Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget: Release date, cast and reviews for Netflix sequel

Chicken Run sequel Dawn of the Nugget promises to re-introduce us to Rocky and Ginger as they face off against a new danger that threatens their feathered way of life.

It’s been 23 years but Aardman Animations is finally returning to the coop for a follow-up to one of their most successful and fondly remembered features.

Released back in 2000, Chicken Run was the Bristol stop-motion studio’s first feature film and emerged as a huge hit with audiences both in the UK and abroad.

Its success paved the way for Aardman to release a number of other animated features including Wallace and Gromit in Curse of the Ware-Rabbit in 2005, and 2012’s The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!

Now, with a few casting tweaks in tow, they’re returning to the world of their debut movie for another farmyard heist set to debut on Netflix.

Here’s everything we know about Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget so far, including its release date, plot and star-studded cast.

Chicken Run 2 release date

Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget is due to debut on Netflix on Friday, 15 December. The animation premiered at the BFI London Film Festival in October.

Chicken Run 2 reviews

The first reviews have landed and the consensus appears to be that the film is a decent successor to the classic.

Variety wrote: "The sequel doesn't offer many surprises plotwise, but is consistently amusing in its dad-jokey kind of way. The folks at Aardman can hardly resist a good pun, and they load Nugget with a level of detail that will reward repeat viewings."

While The Guardian said of the film: "This new Chicken Run has the same flaw as the newer Pixar movies: a sense that the film could almost have been algorithmically fabricated through AI".

Deadline offered more critical thoughts, writing: "Dawn of the Nugget delivers a cleverly modern kind of family entertainment that, while it works to a formula, never feels written by committee."

Rolling Stone adds, "The key issue with Dawn of the Nugget is that it simultaneously feels all too similar to the original and also misses the mark on what made it such a treasured film."

Chicken Run 2 plot

The first Chicken Run introduced us to a group of chickens living on a Yorkshire farm that better resembled a prison camp. As the farm’s owners, Mr and Mrs Tweedy, took any excuse to eat up any chicken that falls out of line, the inhabitants of the coop, led by the courageous Ginger, dreamed up ways of escaping their pie-shaped fates.

Thankfully, things changed when an American rooster named Rocky crash landed on their farm.

He may have had a broken wing but Rocky claimed he can fly — and better yet, he was willing to teach the coop how to do the same so they can escape to a better life. While things don’t exactly go to plan, this animated prison-escape movie delivered Aardman’s smart humour and slick animation style in droves.

Cut to 2023 and Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget picks up years later with Ginger living a comfortable life away from any table-top threats in an idyllic island retreat.

However, when she receives word of a new nugget-shaped danger facing all of chicken-kind, her saviour nature kicks into gear and together with the rest of her bird pals — including rooster Rocky — she devises a plan to break back into the mainland and put a stop to this new evil.

Chicken Run 2 cast

Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget marks the return of the Ginger's arch-nemesis Mrs Tweedy, who is being voiced by Miranda Richardson in the sequel.

Peter Serafinowicz voices Reginald Smith, a businessman and ally to Mrs Tweedy, making her an even bigger threat to our plucky heroes.

The biggest change in this sequel is the recasting of its two primary leads.

Fans will no doubt remember that Mel Gibson led the way in the first Chicken Run as the voice of Rocky, while Absolutely Fabulous star Julia Sawalha voiced Ginger.

Here, these two characters are played by different actors, with Shazam! star Zachary Levi inheriting the role of Rocky and Thandiwe Newton taking the role of lead hen Ginger.

Together, they’re be joined by The Last of Us breakout star Bella Ramsey as Rocky and Ginger’s plucky young daughter Molly, while Jane Horrocks returns to the role of avid knitter and gravy hater, Babs.

Also returning from part one is Imelda Staunton’s no-nonsense, champion egg-layer Bunty AKA the muscle of the coop and Lynn Ferguson’s big-brained Mac, who’ll no doubt be helping to put Ginger’s plans into action.

Newcomers to the Chicken Run world include Josie Sedgwick-Davies as Molly’s wildcard friend Frizzle and David Bradley who takes over the role of elder-rooster Fowler from Benjamin Whitrow.

Romesh Ranganathan and Daniel Mays round out the cast as rodent pals Nick and Fletcher, respectively, with Ted Lasso star Nick Mohammed voicing Dr. Fry.

Chicken Run 2 trailer

The first teaser trailer for Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget flew online in mid-June and gave us a look at life back in the coop. It may have only lasted a brief 19-seconds - showing Rocky and Ginger welcoming a new addition to their nest - but it also came with release date details.

A newer trailer for the film was revealed on 5 September, and it showed Mrs Tweedy for the first time.

With just a month to go before its release, Aardman treated us to another look at their Chicken Run sequel, this time showing us what to expect from a mysterious new chicken farm that looks too good to be true.

Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget will debut on Netflix on Friday, 15 December 2023.