Sonic The Hedgehog 3 Will Focus On This Iconic Character
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is shaping up to be another exciting sequel, as it has been announced the new film will focus on another iconic Sonic character.
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A fan-favorite character is playing a major role in Sonic the Hedgehog 3, according to the film’s writers. A report on MovieWeb states that Pat Casey and Josh Miller (who wrote the first two Sonic movies) recently appeared at the Klamath Community College Comic Con and dropped some insights on the upcoming threequel, which they are writing as well. They revealed that Shadow the Hedgehog, who appeared in a cameo in the credits, will play a major role in the next film.
“The fact that Shadow is clearly going to be in the franchise moving forward, I don’t think it’s revealing anything to say we’d love to incorporate elements from Sonic Adventure 2 and Shadow the Hedgehog, his solo spinoff game,” Miller said during a Q&A at the Con. His comments are at the 20-minute mark in the video. The introduction of Shadow opens some exciting possibilities for Sonic the Hedgehog 3. The Sega Wiki on Fandom.com reveals that Shadow is the second most popular character in the video game series, behind only Sonic himself. Although he is likely to be an antagonist/rival for Sonic in the next film, he is often portrayed in the games as a misunderstood anti-hero, leaving open the possibility that he may at one point become an ally with Sonic, as Knuckles and Tails did.
Armed with hover skates that give him a speed equal to Sonic, he will certainly be a physical match for him. As revealed in the Sonic 2 cameo, Shadow is a genetically created experiment frozen in a secret lab for 50 years. Now that Shadow will be one of the main characters in Sonic the Hedgehog 3, it remains to be seen how much of a villain he will be, and that is likely going to depend on Jim Carrey’s involvement. Kirk Thornton voiced Shadow in the video games and cartoons, but he has not yet been announced as the voice for the movie version. Colleen O’Shaughnessey was brought back to voice Tails for the film, reprising her video game role, so Thornton’s involvement is a real possibility.
Sonic 2 has grossed over $185 million at U.S. theaters, and is still in the box office top ten, despite the fact that it is now available to stream on Paramount+. A TV spinoff for Knuckles is also planned, which is likely to go to Paramount+ as well. Idris Elba (The Suicide Squad, Thor) will once again voice Knuckles for the series, which will likely play into the storyline for Sonic The Hedgehog 3. Elba, along with most of the original cast, is expected to return for the next film. Jim Carrey’s involvement has not been confirmed, as the actor broke his own rule of never doing sequels to do Sonic 2. Whether he’ll do a third film remains to be seen, and he has been silent on the subject so far. His fate at the end of Sonic 2 was left open-ended, so the studio has an “out” if he chooses not to return. He continues to claim he wants to take a “break” from acting.
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 will not complete Sonic’s story, as Paramount plans to create a “Sonic Cinematic Universe” featuring all the characters featured in the video games, comic books, and merchandise. The Knuckles TV series (which premieres in 2023) is the first step to that, and considering the popularity of the Shadow character, he is likely to see his own spinoff of sorts as well. Considering the Sonic films have been the most successful video game franchise, the possibilities for more TV shows and movies are very likely.
