Sonic The Hedgehog Spin-Off Series Has An All-Star Cast
Idris Elba reprises his role as Knuckles in a Sonic the Hedgehog streaming series on Paramount+.
There’s no stopping the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise now. After two successful films, following a botched trailer that could have led the franchise in a very different direction, we’re now getting a Paramount+ series that follows Idris Elba‘s Knuckles the Echidna. According to Variety, the series boasts an all-star cast that also includes Adam Pally, Edi Patterson, Julian Barratt, Scott Mescudi, Rory McCann, and Tika Sumpter.
The Sonic the Hedgehog spin-off series will follow Elba’s Knuckles as he takes on Adam Pally’s Wade Whipple as his protege. Pally reprises his role from the films, as does Tika Sumpter, who will guest star as Maddie. The series will take place between the second film and the upcoming third film in the mainline franchise.
The spin-off series has begun production with Sonic the Hedgehog 2 scribe John Whittington writing the pilot and serving as head writer and executive producer. Brian Schacter and James Madejski also join the writing staff. Franchise director Jeff Fowler will return to direct the pilot episode.
Neal H. Moritz, Toby Ascher, Toru Nakahara, and Idris Elba are also on board to executive produce. Other episodes of the spin-off will be directed by Ged Wright, Brandon Trost, Jorma Taccone, and Carol Banker. The series is set to hit Paramount+ this year before Sonic the Hedgehog 3 in 2024.
It’s not surprising that Paramount is fully on board for more Sonic the Hedgehog projects. The first film was an unexpected smash hit, and the second film brought in even more money. Between the two films, they’ve grossed over $724 million in box office tickets.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 saw Elba’s Knuckles in an antagonistic role before joining the side of the heroes, similar to his role in the games. The film also brought Miles “Tails” Prower on board, voiced by Colleen O’Shaughnessey, the only voice actor who made the jump from the video games. Ben Schwartz also returned to voice the titular hedgehog.
This cast is expected to return for Sonic the Hedgehog 3, but it’s unclear if Jim Carrey will be returning for his role as Dr. Robotnik. The last film’s events and Carrey’s own statements about potentially retiring from acting mean the second film might be the last time we see his energetic performance as the fan-favorite villain. However, the producers are hopeful that he will return for the third film in some capacity.
The Sonic the Hedgehog films have been a part of a turning point for video game film adaptations, which have been historically terrible. While there are outliers, video game fans have been continually burned by Hollywood attempting to translate the beloved source material to the screen. The Sonic films managed to break that trend, achieving critical and commercial success.
In the wake of the success of the Sonic the Hedgehog film, other video game adaptations have done incredibly well. The two most notable are HBO’s The Last of Us and the recent The Super Mario Bros Movie. The former received immense critical praise, and the latter is approaching $700 million at the global box office.
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 will be looking to continue this trend when it hits theaters on December 20, 2024. In the meantime, you can check out the Knuckles series when it hits Paramount+. Stay tuned for more updates.
