Sean Bean discusses <em>Wolfwalkers</em>, one of the year's best animated films

Sean Bean stars in a medieval-set fantasy playing a strong father who tries to protect his rebellious teen daughter while struggling to fulfill his duty to a corrupt leader – oh, and there are wolves involved.While the setup might remind Game of Thrones fans of Ned Stark, everything else about the actor&apos;s new Apple TV+ animated film Wolfwalkers takes a very different path: The tale is set in 1650 Ireland and Bean voices Bill Goodfellowe, an English hunter ordered by the land&apos;s imperious Lord Protector (Simon McBurney) to exterminate wolves so woodcutters can clear a forest. It&apos;s so unusual to see that these days.There&apos;s also a level of – I don&apos;t want to say "darkness," because Wolfwalkers really is a family film – but there are some edgy moments in there that you would expect would get crossed out of the script if it was made at a major Hollywood studio nowadays for a summer release.You feel like it genuinely means something, that there&apos;s a good story to be told that it still maintains its Irish roots and mythology and it was done by people who really felt they needed to tell a story that they felt very strongly and passionately about, rather than thinking about it as a commercial venture and having their hands tied by a studio.