Error in jump to next screen

[Technorocker]

Hello, Ive been using this plugin for my splash screen for almost a year with no issues. I updated flutter yesterday and now I'm getting an issue where it freezes after the time duration and I get the console log error AnimatedSplashScreen -> error in jump to next screen, probably this run is in hot reload: Null check operator used on a null value

          Column(
            children: <Widget>[
              Padding(
                padding: EdgeInsets.only(top: 140.h),
                child: SizedBox(
                  height: 300.h,
                  child: AnimatedSplashScreen(
                    splash: './assets/images/vext_gif_nobg.gif',
                    splashIconSize: 140,
                    backgroundColor: Colors.transparent,
                    nextScreen: LoginScreen(),
                    splashTransition: SplashTransition.scaleTransition,
                    pageTransitionType: PageTransitionType.fade,
                    duration: 6000,
                    curve: Curves.slowMiddle,
                  ),
                ),
              ),
            ],
          ),

I haven't touched this file in ages. So don't know why it suddenly doesn't want to work now. I'm using the latest version, vscode as my IDE and I'm running on windows. I'm running my app on an android galaxy S10.

Not sure if its a dependency or the flutter upgrade or what.