Animator Nick Park drops bombshell that Gromit was almost a cat

“I had this idea of an English guy who builds a rocket, in the basement of his house,” says Park, adding, “I was thinking he may have a pet, probably a cat.” But, the Oscar-winner admitted, “I started modelling the cat, and it was just very difficult, so I thought I’d do a dog instead!”

And thus the brilliant but dotty inventor Wallace’s bacon (and cheese) were destined to be saved by his loyal dog, Gromit through four short films and two features, most recently 2024’s typically delightful Vengeance Most Fowl.

While Aardman, the animation studio founded by Sir Peter Lord and Sir David Sproxton in 1976, dabbled in the claymation format before Park brought Wallce & Gromit to life in 1985, it’s the fantastic but homely misadventures of man and dog that have made Aardman a mainstay of the animation world. That the titular duo were almost man and cat does open up various questions. 

Would a cat, as deadpan and watchful as they are, have exhibited the same, well, dogged protective nature to keep the potty Wallace from, say, running himself to death in a pair of runaway robotic trousers? Would cat Gromit, while no doubt enjoying cheese as much as his canine replacement, be as chummy with the animated mice seen scampering around Wallace’s humble cottage? Thankfully, these are things we need not ponder, as Gromit is, and will apparently always be, a very good boy, indeed.