Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget’s trailer is a Mission: Impossible riff

The first trailer for Netflix’s long-gestating animated sequel Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget has arrived, and it leans hard into the Mission: Impossible aspects of the story, with the chubby British chickens from 2000’s Chicken Run Now, instead of breaking out of a chicken farm, they are trying to get into one. It openly references the Mission: Impossible franchise as a whole, but the structure is also familiar from countless heist movies: “Here’s a list of the daunting barriers you’ll face in getting access to the site, now you have to figure out a clever way to bypass them.” (In this case, the barriers include “laser-guided exploding ducks.”)

You may also recognize some of the voices in this trailer. Chicken Run Miranda Richardson, as Mrs. Tweedy was a returning villain 23 years earlier. Several of the chickens in the main crew also have the same voice: Babs is Jane Horrocks, Bunty is Imelda Staunton and Mac is Lynn Ferguson. Zachary Levi will replace Mel Gibson in the role of Rocky, the rooster. And the movie’s original star, Julia Sawalha, who played determined protagonist Ginger, publicly announced years ago that the movie’s producers proclaimed her voice sounded “too old” for the role and that they were recasting her. Westworld’s Thandiwe Newton will now play Ginger.

The vocal changes aren’t surprising on their own — Gibson is experiencing yet another career resurgence in spite of numerous scandals involving domestic abuse, racism, and antisemitism, but Netflix has every reason to dodge associating him with a new children’s movie. Other voices were recast for practical reasons — for instance, Benjamin Whitrow, the original voice of the cranky old rooster Fowler, died in 2017. David Bradley from Harry Potter will play him in the movie. But Sawalha’s recasting has hit a sore spot with some fans, particularly given her public appeal on social media about the change. She refers here to a video where she reprises Ginger’s role in an attempt to prove her ability. The video has been removed from Vimeo.

Here’s Netflix’s summary of the movie:

It’s finally time to let the cat out, or chicken in this case. Sure to ruffle feathers once more is the return of Melisha Tweedy, better known as Mrs. Tweedy and Ginger’s arch nemesis in the stop-motion animated sequel, Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget. The teaser trailer released today gives you a glimpse at Mrs. Tweedy as voiced by Miranda Richardson. She has transformed herself to fit in with a modern era of fowl play. Peter Serafinowicz, a British comedian, actor, screenwriter and director, will also be joining the cast as Reginald Smith. Serafinowicz portrays a humorless businessman, and together with Tweedy poses an increased threat to the chicken-kind.

Chicken Run: Dawn of the NuggetNetflix releases its December 15th release.