Feathers McGraw is back!
The dastardly penguin supervillain is following in the stop-motion footsteps of fellow animation antagonist Mrs. Tweedy and making a grand return to screens, this time in the latest “Wallace and Gromit” feature. Whereas Tweedy, arch-nemesis in Aardman‘s 2000 hit “Chicken Run” came back for last year’s sequel “Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget,” McGraw is returning almost 40 years after he was seen in 1993’s Oscar-winning short “Wallace & Gromit: The Wrong Trouser” for “Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl.”
Details of the new Aardman film — which was first announced in 2022 — have now been revealed, as has a teaser showing McGraw in all his evil glory.
“Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl” will premiere this Christmas on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. Outside of the U.K., the film will be available globally on Netflix.
Landing 16 years after the last Wallace and Gromit movie, “A Matter of Loaf and Death,” the new 70-minute adventure sees Gromit grow concerned as Wallace becomes over-dependent on his inventions — something which proves justified when Wallace invents a “smart gnome” that seems to develop an evil mind of its own. But who or what could be the cause? As events begin to spiral out of control, it’s up to Gromit to put aside his qualms and battle sinister forces, or Wallace may never be able to invent again.
The voice cast sees Ben Whitehead return to voice Wallace, the eccentric cheese-loving inventor, and Peter Kay back as Chief Inspector (formerly PC) Mackintosh. New cast members include Lauren Patel (“Everybody’s Talking About Jamie,” “Lloyd of the Flies”) and Reece Shearsmith (“League of Gentleman,” “Inside No.9”), with cameos from Diane Morgan (“Afterlife,” “Motherland”), Adjoa Andoh (“Bridgerton,” “Invictus”) and Lenny Henry (“Three Little Birds,” “The Lord of the Rings”).
“I’d had the idea of a film about garden gnomes turning bad for more than a decade, but I could never work out what made them bad,” said Nick Park, the director and creator of “Wallace and Gromit.” “It occurred to me that the single most asked question I get when I meet fans is, will the penguin Feathers McGraw, Wallace and Gromit’s original antagonist from ‘The Wrong Trousers’ 30 years ago, ever return? We’ve had fun bringing him back in cameo capacities but now, three decades on, it felt like the right time. Then it hit me: What if Feathers was involved with these gnomes? We’re hoping that this film will appeal to fans of ‘Gnome Noir’ everywhere and that people will be gratified when they see what Feathers has been up to since ‘The Wrong Trousers.’”