Chicken Run 2: Did you spot this cameo from a Wallace and Gromit character?

This little wink suggests the existence of an “Aardmanverse”.

After twenty-three years of waiting, Chicken Run: The Nugget Menace was released this Friday, December 15 on Netflix. Ginger and Rocky enjoy their well-deserved paradise on earth and give birth to little Molly. But the food industry has not stopped and our favorite chickens will have to infiltrate intensive farming to sabotage it from the inside. While the first part borrowed from The great Escapeits sequel is under the sign of James Bond And Impossible mission.

The Aardman studio has become famous for its stop-motion films and its cult plasticine characters. They created Ginger and Rocky, but also Shaun the Sheep and of course Wallace and Gromit. Moreover, informed spectators certainly recognized the famous penguin criminal Feathers McGraw, appearing in the background of the last shot of the film. This penguin was already the villain of the short film Bad pants (Nick Park1993), in which he steals a pair of robotic pants invented by Wallace to steal a priceless diamond.

This mute penguin was recognizable by the way he put a red latex glove on his head to conceal his identity. With that fake crest and his imperturbable face, Feathers McGraw wasn’t very reassuring. His presence in Chicken Run 2 suggests that the Aardman Animations characters live in the same universe, although this is most likely a playful cameo rather than an announcement of a real “cinematic universe”. Moreover, it is not impossible that it is in passing a nod to the anniversary of Bad pants since the film celebrates its 30th anniversary this year.

The furtive appearance of this character is in any case an excellent excuse to rediscover the first short films of Wallace and Gromit… And to wish Feathers McGraw a happy birthday!

Chicken Run 2 – The Nuggets Menace is a poultry spy film (review)