The third Sonic The Hedgehog film is deep into production, and Keanu Reeves has joined the cast as Shadow.
Plot details for the third Sonic The Hedgehog film – called Sonic The Hedgehog 3, spookily enough – are under wraps, but we do know that Jim Carrey will return, despite his previous assertion that he was retiring, with Krysten Ritter, Ayla Browne, James Wolk, Sofia Pernas, Cristo Fernandez and Jorma Taccone joining the cast.
Jeff Fowler will return to direct. Screenwriting credits have not been confirmed, but Pat Casey and Josh Miller wrote the first two films, with John Whittington co-writing the second film.
According to Deadline, Keanu Reeves has been cast in the new film to voice Shadow The Hedgehog.
Sonic The Hedgehog is among the top selling video game franchises of all time. Launching on the Sega Mega Drive in 1991, the blue Hedgehog with super speed has graced countless video games, and after a failed attempt to make an animated film in the 1990s, he finally made a very successful leap to the big screen in 2020.
Voiced by Ben Schwartz, it saw him meet small town Sheriff Tom, played by James Marsden, and go up against his arch nemesis Dr. Robotnik, played with maniacal relish by Jim Carrey.
After being teased at the end of the first film, the 2022 sequel introduced Tails and Knuckles, voiced by Colleen O’Shaughnessey and Idris Elba.
First introduced in the video game Sonic Adventure 2 in 2001, Shadow is a creation of Professor Gerald Robotnik, the grandfather of Sonic’s arch-nemesis, Dr. Robotnik. He possesses a power called Chaos Control, which allows him to manipulate space and time.
In other Sonic news, Knuckles, a spin-off series and character study in which Idris Ela reprises the titular role, is available to stream now on Paramount+.
Sonic The Hedgehog 3 will be released in UK cinemas on 20th December 2024.
