Chicken Run 2 will likely recast Mel Gibson due to anti-semitic comments

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

One of the greatest animation studios in the game, Aardman Animations, is in the midst of prepping a sequel to their spirited prison-escape feature, CHICKEN RUN. However, according to The Wrap, they'll be doing so without Mel Gibson, who voiced the character Rocky in the original adventure. Gibson has recently come under fire, once again, after actress Winona Ryder recanted a 1995 encounter she had with Gibson, in which she said the actor referred to her as a Jewish "over dodger."

“We were at a crowded party with one of my good friends, and Mel Gibson was smoking a cigar, and we’re all talking and he said to my friend, who’s gay, ‘Oh wait, am I gonna get AIDS?’ And then something came up about Jews, and he said, ‘You’re not an oven dodger, are you,'” Ryder told the London-based Sunday Times while talking up her role in the HBO limited series “The Plot Against America.”

While Aardman's sequel to CHICKEN RUN isn't expected to go into production until next year, a source that's close to the project has said that Gibson's participation is unlikely.

According to reports, Aardman's CHICKEN RUN sequel will arrive via Netflix, and will once again center around Ginger (Julia Sawalha), now living in a human-free chicken paradise. There, Ginger and Rocky (originally Mel Gibson) hatch an egg together and daughter Molly is born. The girl grows up quickly, “as children do,” and Molly begins to outgrow the island. At the same time, rumors start to float of a new and terrible threat on the mainland, forcing Ginger to rally her troops and put their own hard-won freedom at risk for the good of all chicken-kind.

Directing the CHICKEN RUN sequel is Sam Fell (FLUSHED AWAY, PARANORMAN) from a script penned by Karey Kirkpatrick, John O' Farrell and Rachel Tunnard. Meanwhile, Nick Park, who created such Aardman classics as WALLACE AND GROMIT and SHUAN THE SHEEP, will act as a consultant on the film. Steve Pegram and Leyla Hobart will produce, while Peter Lord, Carla Shelley and Karey Kirkpatrick will return as executive producers.

If you've yet to see the original CHICKEN RUN, what are you waiting for? In my personal opinion, it's one of Aardman's best efforts to date, and comes packed with thought-provoking commentary like you wouldn't believe. Those who see the film as just another animation for kids, clearly failed to catch the movie's scathing commentary about incarceration, or how Tweedy's Farm mirrors the experience of being imprisoned in a concentration camp, seemingly helpless and awaiting death. In my opinion, it's one of the most layered animated films of all time, and I simply can't wait to see Aardman's approach to a sequel.