Reader, when you don’t thoughts a fast look into my private neurosis, let me inform you that once I’m actually trying ahead to one thing, I get an excessive amount of anxiousness about presumably dying earlier than I get to expertise it. I’ve felt this about video video games, motion pictures, albums, live shows, and just about the rest price being enthusiastic about. Proper now, the third live-action Sonic the Hedgehog film is close to the highest of my record of Issues I Should Survive Lengthy Sufficient To Expertise. This isn’t as a result of I believe the film will probably be nice, and even good, it’s as a result of Shadow the Hedgehog, the very best character within the franchise, is ready to seem as a primary character. All these emotions of pleasure and existential dread have been roused immediately, as Paramount has launched an image of the angsty, broody, gun-toting king on set…properly, his toes, at the very least.
The picture of Shadow’s iconic hover footwear was posted November 29 to the Sonic film’s social media accounts. It options what seems to be Shadow’s stand-in statue standing over a director’s slate that includes the Sonic the Hedgehog 3 emblem. These statues are used throughout filming to provide live-action actors a body of reference for the animated character’s place, so that they know the place to look when delivering strains earlier than they’re dubbed by voice actors. A number of the early set pictures from Sonic the Hedgehog 2’s manufacturing confirmed the crew placing up statues of Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles, so it appears like Shadow is on set now, as properly.
Eagle-eyed followers have identified the logo bears a striking resemblance to the logo of Sonic Adventure 2, which features a mirror picture of Sonic and Shadow’s outlines as they’re curled right into a ball for a spin sprint. Shadow debuted on this recreation on the Dreamcast in 2001, and whereas we nonetheless don’t know a lot about Sonic the Hedgehog 3’s plot, Shadow’s discovery within the second film’s post-credits scene echoes his debut within the video games. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 in all probability isn’t a direct adaptation of Sonic Journey 2, nevertheless it does appear to be taking inspiration from it.
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is ready to premiere on December 20, 2024, which is an agonizingly very long time from proper now. We nonetheless don’t know who’s voicing Sonic’s rival within the live-action collection, however the motion pictures have shot for the celebrities on the subject of casting. Sonic is voiced by Parks and Recreation star Ben Schwartz and Idris Elba is reprising his position as Knuckles after lately showing in Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty. However the producers have additionally introduced in some expertise from the video games; Colleen O’Shaughnessey voices Tails, simply as she has within the video games since 2014. So it could possibly be anybody, although I’m nonetheless keen on the Keanu Reeves and Robert Pattinson fan castings which have been circulating since Shadow confirmed up within the second film.