The Sonic the Hedgehog 2 movie has found its Knuckles the Echidna, and it’s The Suicide Squad actor Idris Elba. And that fucking whips.
Elba announced the casting on his personal Twitter, including one of the first renders of the character as he’ll appear in the live-action/CG hybrid film when it launches next year. Well, part of him, at least. His…knuckles.
Knock, knock….#SonicMovie2 #Knuckles pic.twitter.com/N1PW5XaCEd
— Idris Elba (@idriselba) August 10, 2021
Knuckles’ involvement in the movie was hinted at for a while until photos from the Sonic the Hedgehog 2 set included a statue stand-in for the character alongside Sonic and Tails. A leaked summary of the film implies Knuckles will play an adversarial role while searching for what sounds like the Master Emerald, for at least some fraction of the runtime. This does make some sense, as Knuckles wasn’t on Sonic’s side when he debuted in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 back in 1994. Plus, the original movie had echidnas killing his mother figure, so there’s probably going to be some tension there.
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Elba’s casting does raise questions about who might be playing Tails in the sequel, as he was voiced by Colleen O’Shaughnessey in the first film’s mid-credits scene, who voiced him in the games. But given that both Sonic and Knuckles have been recast for their live-action iterations, Tails may soon have a new voice behind him.
