Shaun The Sheep: The Flight Before Christmas - What We Know So Far

During the month of December, watching a variety of one's favorite Christmas specials is a long-held tradition for many families. Whether you and your loved ones enjoy loading up the timeless "A Charlie Brown Christmas," or putting on whatever adaptation of "A Christmas Carol" you prefer, or simply kicking back to "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" (again, whatever version you prefer), the right special goes a long way towards making the month leading up to the 25th feel like a proper holiday season.

Now, it's time to prepare yourself for a potential addition to your growing list of Christmas cravings, because "Shaun the Sheep: The Flight Before Christmas" is coming your way.

Originating from the same brains as the classic British claymation series, "Wallace and Gromit," the spin-off franchise "Shaun the Sheep" focuses on its titular character, as he and his flock repeatedly stir up trouble, and embark on eccentric adventures on the farm they call home. Much like the aforementioned "Wallace and Gromit," this series is fondly looked upon as a childhood classic in many households across Europe — and as such, it only makes sense for it to have a Christmas special. However, the holidays are still a long ways away, and there's much that we still haven't covered about this special's release date, cast, and plot. So, without further adieu, here is what we know so far about "Shaun the Sheep: The Flight Before Christmas."

We'll give you three guesses to figure out the approximate time of year when "Shaun the Sheep: The Flight Before Christmas" is set to release. Get ready.

Of course, this shouldn't be too difficult, because any Christmas special worth its salt is most likely going to debut sometime during the holiday season. Predictably enough, it appears that "Shaun the Sheep" is no different. According to the official "Shaun the Sheep" website, the upcoming special "The Flight Before Christmas" will come out on December 3, 2021. It will be available to stream on Netflix in the U.S. throughout the United States, Latin America, Russia, most of Europe, the Middle East, Canada, and more.

In addition to releasing on Netflix in early December, though, old-fashioned television viewers will be happy to learn that "The Flight Before Christmas" will also air on TV on Christmas Day across a variety of networks, depending on your home country. While this list does not include as many places as Netflix, viewers in many countries — including the U.K., Australia, France, Germany, and much of Scandinavia and Eastern Europe — will be able to tune in to watch "The Flight Before Christmas" on TV. However, the timeslot and network varies from country to country, so you will want to look up local airtimes if you want to be sure.

Casting, of course, has never been a major issue with "Shaun the Sheep," and for rather obvious reasons (if you're familiar with the show). While the series certainly has longstanding and beloved cast members, Shaun included, the show itself is generally devoid of any dialogue that doesn't involve animal noises, grunts, yells, or sounds of that nature. As such, the cast for "Shaun the Sheep" probably doesn't get as much credit as they deserve in bringing this children's show to life. 

Regardless, it seems as though "The Flight Before Christmas" is opting to keep the classic cast of "Shaun the Sheep" in place for this coming Christmas release. This includes Justin Fletcher, who has voiced Shaun ever since the series debuted in 2007 (via IMDb). Additionally, it is quite likely that "The Flight Before Christmas" will once again feature the other veteran voice actor from "Shaun the Sheep," John Sparks, who voices both Blitzer the dog and The Farmer. Finally, the cast behind some of the flock's more memorable sheep, such as Timmy's Mother (Kate Harbour) and Shirley (Richard Webber) will also likely return.

The only unknown factor here comes in the form of new characters and their associated cast. "Shaun the Sheep" specials and films tend to have a wider cast than their episodic counterparts, as one might expect. However, the names and voice actors of any new characters likely to pop up in "The Flight Before Christmas'" (if indeed there are any) have yet to be revealed at this time of writing.

Like most of the previous "Shaun the Sheep" stories that fans have enjoyed, "Shaun the Sheep: The Flight Before Christmas" centers around Shaun as he tries to fix a litany of issues that occurred because of the antics that he — not to mention all of the other sheep — have gotten mixed up in. 

In this particular case, it seems that Timmy — the flock's adorably tiny resident lamb — goes missing after the flock raids a farmhouse to make larger stockings for themselves in preparation for the arrival of Santa Claus (this is a Christmas special, after all). Shaun then departs on a quest to rescue his little lamb friend, hopefully in time for the holidays, before Timmy is turned into a present for someone else. Of course, Shaun more than likely has to accomplish all of this under the nose of the farmer, who — as seen in the episode "We Wish Ewe A Merry Christmas" — has generally served as the one dispensing Christmas gifts to the flock when Santa is not around. Taking all of this into account, the flock's Christmas could very easily become a major catastrophe if Shaun isn't able to get Timmy back home in time. Whether or not he succeeds at this important quest to save Timmy will be seen when "The Flight Before Christmas" releases this December.