Wallace and Gromit creator Nick Park has explained why bird-brained villain Feathers McGraw finally returns to the stop motion ⭕series three decades after his debut in 1993's The Wrong Trousers.

"He wasn't part of the first idea, to be ﷺhonest," Wallace and Gromit creator and Vengeance Most Fowl co-director Park tells GamesRadar+ of the rubber-glove-wearing stick-up artist who infamously made his bow as Wallace's nefarious lo𒉰dger.

"We started writing, in the early days, a story about Wallace inventing a smart gnome – some𝓀thing that could help Gromit out in the garden. It was great fun, but working with [writer] Mark Burton and [co-director Merlin Crossingham], it was ✱a story that was just lacking something," Park says.

"We needed something more villainous, a villain with a strong motivation. Then it all started to become apparent. People have been asking about 'will🐼 he return?' for years. It was really our own decision."

Merlin 🧸Crossingham adds, "It was a gift. It opened up all sorts of possibilities that we were struggling with. He was the key that unlocked all that."

Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most ౠFowl sees Feathers McGraw emerging from the shadows to pull the strings on Wallace's latest inven🌟tion – a smart gnome that "develops a mind of its own."

As per the film's synopsisꦕ, "When it emerges that a vengeful figure from the past might be masterminding things, it falls to Gromit to battle sinister forces."

Wallace & Gromiওt: Vengean🔯ce Most Fowl will premiere on BBC One and BBC iPlayer on Christmas Day at 6:10pm and on Netflix in other regions on January 3, 2025.