It is the moment that Sonic fans have been waiting years for, as Sega and Paramount Pictures unveiled the official trailer for Sonic the Hedgehog 3, which introduces beloved anti-hero Shadow into the cinematic universe. The brooding antagonist of the third film will be played by Keanu Reeves, who gamers will also know as Johnny Silverhands in Cyberpunk 2077.
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 sees the return of Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles, who must reunite to deal with a mysterious new threat, Shadow the Hedgehog. While not much is known about the plot outside of that summary, we do know that Ben Schwartz (Sonic), Colleen O’Shaughnessey (Tails), and Idris Elba (Knuckles) will all reprise their respective voice-over roles.
Alongside the voice cast, Jim Carrey (Dr. Ivo “Eggman” Robotnik), James Marsden (Tom), and Tika Sumpter (Maddie) will also be back for Sonic the Hedgehog 3 in their live-action roles. Based on the video game of the same name, Sonic the Hedgehog received its first adaptation back in 2020.
While it was originally met with criticism due to how poor the first version of Sonic looked in live-action (especially the teeth), Paramount responded by delaying the release and fixing the visual issues. Since then, both the 2020 film and 2022 sequel received praise from fans of the video game series while also becoming two of the highest-grossing video game films ever released in the US, until they were dethroned by Nintendo’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie a year later.
We will see if the speedy blue hedgehog and his friends can take back the crown when Sonic the Hedgehog 3 releases on December 20, 2024
