Sonic the Hedgehog Returning to Kids TV in Fall 2014

Sonic the Hedgehog is returning to TV.

The character, who was first introduced in a Sega video game in 1991, will be the center of a new CG animated show to debut in the fall of 2014. The show, which has a working title Sonic Boom, will debut on Cartoon Network in the U.S. and Canal J and Gulli in France, with plans for a global rollout to follow.

The new action comedy series starts with a commitment of 52 episodes to be co-produced by Sega of America and Genao Productions. Takashi Iizuka, the creative force behind the character, is overseeing the series which includes the title character, his sidekick Tails, arch-nemesis Dr. Eggman and other characters from the franchise.

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This is the fourth time Sonic has been in a TV series. The character has also been featured in more than 70 video games and according to Sega with over 140 million videogames sold or downloaded worldwide across consoles, PCs, mobile phones and tablets.

The series, aimed at kids 6 to 11, was packaged by Evan Baily, Donna Friedman Meir, and Jane McGregor, who will be executive producers for SEGA. Sandrine Nguyen and Boris Hertzog are executive producers for Genao.

Baily, Meir and Nguyen developed the series, and Hertzog and McGregor structured the financing and negotiated the deals. Baily (formerly executive vp of production and creative affairs for Classic Media) and co-executive producer Bill Freiberger (The Simpsons, Drawn Together) are showrunners.

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Benoit Roque, Head of Lagardere Active TV Licensing & New Business, said they will handle licensing and consumer products.

Lagardere Entertainment Rights has worldwide rights excluding the U.S. and Asia (but including Japan); SEGA Corporation has Asia (excluding Japan); Baily, Meir and McGregor manage the U.S. through McGregor’s company Jane McGregor.

“Sonic is an enormously popular and unique character with all the qualities of an animation series’ great hero-humor, bravery, loyalty, inventiveness.” said Caroline Cochaux, head of programs, kids & family channels, Lagardère Active.