Chicken Run is a British stop-motion animated film released in 2000. The film starred Julia Sawalha as the titular heroine Ginger the typical English hen and Mel Gibson who starred as Rocky the rambunctious American rooster. Ginger was looking for her army of hens to escape Mrs Tweedy's farm before they get turned into chicken pies when she suddenly meets Rocky, an American who convinces her that he could teach her compatriots to fly to safety using yoga exercises.
The film was a groundbreaking work of British animation by Nick Park who had previously won Oscars for his short animated feature series Wallce and Gromit before setting up his animation studio Aardman Animations. The film became a staple in British culture not just because of the quality of the film but it's yearly Christmas release on British Television.
23 year later the sequel is set to be released sometime in 2023 with returning, new and recasted roles. Returning casts are Imelda Staunton who plays Bunty the muscle of the group, Jane Horrocks who plays Babs the homely scarf knitter and finally Lynn Ferguson as Mac the engineer/scientist chicken of the crew. New roles are set for Josie Sedgwick-Davies who wll play Frizzle, David Bradley as Fowler, Romesh Ranganathan as Nick, Daniel Mays as Fetcher, Nick Mohammad as Dr. Fry and Game of Thrones alumn Bella Ramsey as Molly, Ginger and Rocky's daughter.
Suprisingly or not suprising both Ginger and Rocky's roles have been recasted, Aardman stated Mel Gibson was not asked to return and Julia Sawalha made a statement revealing Aardman now considered her voice to sound too old. Ginger will now be played by Westworld's Thandiwe Newton and Rocky will be played by Shazam's Zachary Levi.