Hot off The Suicide Squad, Idris Elba is speeding into another franchise. The actor will voice fan-favorite character Knuckles in the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
Jeff Fowler once again directs, with Ben Schwartz returning to voice Sonic. James Marsden, Tika Sumpter, Natasha Rothwell, Adam Pally, Shemar Moore and Jim Carrey also star. Knuckles first appeared as an antagonist in 1994’s Sonic the Hedgehog 3 before befriending Sonic and his ally Tails and becoming a protagonist in his own right in 1995’s Sonic & Knuckles.
The first Sonic was a success for Paramount, earning $319.7 million globally upon release in February 2020, making it one of the final blockbusters to hit before COVID-19 upended the theatrical marketplace.
Pat Casey, Josh Miller and John Whittington penned the script for Sonic 2, from a story by Casey and Miller. Neal H. Moritz, Toby Ascher, Toru Nakahara, Hitoshi Okuno are producing. Executive producers are Haruki Satomi, Yukio Sugino, Shuji Utsumi, Nan Morales and Tim Miller.
Elba is in theaters as Bloodsport in Warner Bros.’ The Suicide Squad. He is next slated to appear in the Netflix western The Harder They Fall, due out in October. Elba, who is repped by M88, WME, The Artists Partnership and Ziffren Brittenham LLP., confirmed the news on Twitter.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is due out from Paramount on April 8, 2022.
More to come.
