If you were alive in 2020, you certainly haven’t forgotten how tumultuous and distressing it was; a global pandemic, the Australian bushfires, the stock market crash, and much more all contributed to the desolate malice that was 2020. However, in this darkness was a beacon of hope: Sonic the Hedgehog. Acclaimed as the breaker of the “video game movie curse”, the first movie of this franchise has a 93% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes from over 10,000 reviews, with the sequel boasting a 96%.

As teased in the previous film, Shadow the Hedgehog– a fan-favorite of the series– will be very prominent in the plot of “Sonic the Hedgehog 3”. Reportedly, he will be voiced by beloved national treasure, Keanu Reeves; known for roles such as John Wick, Neo of “The Matrix”, the latter titular character in “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure”, and more. Similarly, it appears that Paramount will be taking Shadow’s origin story in the direction of “Sonic Adventure 2” (2001). With the introduction of GUN and Project Shadow in the final scene of “Sonic the Hedgehog 2”, it only furthered this theory when actress Alyla Browne confirmed she would be playing the role of Maria. Furthermore, “Crush 40” frontman Johnny Gioeli confirmed his band is returning for the third Sonic movie as well. Saying in a Tweet, “What you’ve seen of me is only a Shadow to come…” with the film’s release date listed below. It appears that their song and the main theme of “Sonic Adventure 2” (2001), “Live and Learn”, will be featured in the film.

Despite his announced retirement, Jim Carrey will be reprising his villainous role as Dr. Ivor Robotnik. When he intended to retire, he said “If the angels bring some sort of script that’s written in gold ink that says to me that it’s going to be really important for people to see, I might continue down the road, but I’m taking a break”; only to contradict himself now by re-joining the Sonic team for “Sonic the Hedgehog 3”. Voice and motion-capture actors Ben Schwartz, Colleen O’Shaughnessey, and Idris Elba will be reprising their respective roles as well.

It’s evident that “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” (2024) will have a plot heavily inspired by the events of “Sonic Adventure 2” (2001). It’s also a prominent theory online that, because of the confirmation of GUN and Maria, Rouge the Bat and Amy Rose will also see their first appearances in the film series. Seeing as she’s the catalyst of Shadow’s character arc in the second Adventure title as well as being one of Sonic’s best friends in the canon of the games, Amy Rose has been a front-runner for theories since the announcement of “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” (2024). Rumors online have speculated that Kristyn Alyce Ritter, known for characters such as Jessica Jones and Jane Margolis in “Breaking Bad”, has been cast as Rouge. However, many of these sources also claimed the casting of Hayden Christensen as Shadow the Hedgehog– which has since been proved incorrect.

“Sonic the Hedgehog 3” is set to be released theatrically on December 20th, 2024 in theaters across America and Japan by Paramount Pictures.

Works Cited:

2020: nypost.com access date: 4/24, update: 12/20; threepennypress.org access date: 4/24, update: 5/23; wikipedia.org access date: 4/24, update: 4/24; rottentomatoes access date: 4/24, update: 4/24

Confirmed actors & lore: kotaku.com access date: 4/24, update: 4/24; ign.com access date: 4/24, update: 2/24; twitter.com access date: 4/24, update: 2/24

Rumors: comingsoon.net access date: 4/24, update: 1/24; gamingbible.com access date: 2/24, update: 1/24