Exclusive: Jason Momoa In Talks For Sonic The Hedgehog 3
Jason Momoa is being wooed to join Sonic the Hedgehog 3, potentially as the voice of the antiheroic Shadow.
Aquaman actor Jason Momoa is currently in negotiations to join Sonic the Hedgehog 3, the upcoming installment in the astonishingly popular adaptation of the Sega Genesis video game series. According to our trusted and proven sources, the Game of Thrones star is looking to join yet another mega-franchise, and we suspect that he is being brought in to voice fan-favorite antihero character Shadow the Hedgehog. Last year’s Sonic the Hedgehog 2 set up Shadow as the potential adversary for the speedy blue protagonist, so it feels like a gimme for Jason Momoa in Sonic 3.
The first Sonic the Hedgehog movie established the simple and classic storyline of a blue extraterrestrial anthropomorphic hedgehog with hyperactivity issues (Ben Schwartz) being threatened with death by a clan of echidnas, then given a bag of reality-warping golden rings by an owl, and finally up on Earth to bother James Marsden and fight a maniacal Jim Carrey. The second film essentially repeated the formula but added Colleen O’Shaughnessey as the two-tailed fox Tails and Idris Elba as Knuckles, a warrior echidna with a rigid code of honor. Jason Momoa joining Sonic the Hedgehog 3 as Shadow, the grimdark hedgehog with a traumatic past just makes sense.
Jason Momoa already has a lot of experience playing misanthropic antiheroes, so playing Shadow the Hedgehog in Sonic 3 should come naturally to him. Shadow first appeared in 2001’s Sonic Adventure 2 as an ally of the villainous Doctor Eggman (the grandson of Doctor Robotnik) and Rouge the Bat. He is introduced as a living weapon (and “Ultimate Life Form”), whose only wish is to fulfill the dying wish of a young girl. Sonic games can get pretty dark.
But Shadow the Hedgehog’s extended history has seen him frequently switching between being an enemy of Sonic and his ally, so we will likely see Jason Momoa in Sonic 3 follow the same bad guy-to-good arc as Idris Elba’s Knuckles in the second film. The first two Sonic the Hedgehog films have made approximately $700 million at the box office between them, so Paramount Pictures likely does not have any reason to change the formula too much.
Jason Momoa has a lot going on in addition to possibly appearing as a genetically engineered hedgehog with a tragic backstory in Sonic 3. He recently revealed that the upcoming Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is something of a “brother’s journey” story with his and Patrick Wilson’s characters and that it will feature the return of everyone’s favorite eight-armed underwater drummer. His future in the DC Universe is a bit murkier after that, but it seems like Jason Momoa has no particular fears that he will get cut from his superhero role, Henry Cavill-style.
Aside from his return as the king of Atlantis, Jason Momoa will be starring in the tenth Fast and Furious movie before he has a chance to appear in Sonic the Hedgehog 3. This time around, he will be playing an antagonist to Vin Diesel’s family gang, but since villains in that franchise have a tendency to turn into allies within a movie or two, it could be a good rehearsal for Shadow.
