Like a lot of his contemporary platform mascot leads, Sonic the Hedgehog does not shut up. The blue furball with attitude has gone from general spin sounds to fully voiced dialogue and monologues over the decades with multiple different voice actors. For the past decade, Sonic had been voiced by Roger Craig Smith, who is also known for voicing characters like Chris Redfield in the Resident Evil series. Earlier this year, however, Smith departed the role of Sonic, and seemingly not entirely by his own choice.
“Welp, 10 years was an amazing run. Onward to new zones!” Smith tweeted in January, posting a picture of a broken blue heart. He did not give any reasons for why he was leaving the role, though fan speculation was that Sega was looking to flip the games’ consistent cast with voices that were either from the Sonic the Hedgehog movie or sounded closely similar. Coordinated efforts began among Sonic fans to restore Smith to the role, though Smith himself remained quiet about the circumstances in which he left.
It appears those efforts have worked, as Smith confirmed today that he is staying on as Sonic in future games, alongside a picture of a broken blue heart being sewn back together.
I can't fully express my gratitude for the @sonic_hedgehog crew and community.????
I hope to honor your support and passion as I'm officially back voicing #SonicTheHedgehog in games.
Can't wait for ya to see what we have planned!
THANK YOU…from the bottom of my blue heart.???? pic.twitter.com/KOLi2MJnUi
— Roger Craig Smith (@RogerCraigSmith) May 26, 2021
Smith specifically thanks the community for his return, indicating that Sega had a change of heart after seeing fans insist that he remain as the hedgehog’s voice actor.
We’ll likely hear Smith as Sonic within the next few days, as Sega is running a Sonic the Hedgehog livestream on Thursday, May 27 to talk about the future of the franchise. Sega has confirmed multiple times that a new Sonic game is in development, but has yet to officially reveal it, so this seems as good a time as any.
