You might have noticed that the last two Sonic The Hedgehog movies have ended with Dr. Robotnik’s presumed death. He fell from a great height in Sonic 2, then he was at the center of a space explosion in Sonic 3. Also in Sonic 3, he had a “redemption arc” of sorts where he fought back against his evil papa (also played by Jim Carrey). The implication is that both times, they didn’t think Carrey would sign up for another movie.
And why would they? At the time, Carrey was publicly making remarks about retirement. He said he was done with movies around the time of Sonic 2’s release. But the world’s first teaser for Sonic The Hedgehog 4 was released yesterday, and Carrey’s Eggman is on the list of returning characters. Looks like we got him for life. (Good thing Robotnik wasn’t played by Chuck Norris.)
Before this, Paramount and Sega announced Kristen Bell would join the movie cast as the voice of Amy Rose. Amy was teased in the third movie’s mid-credits scene along with Metal Sonic; both these characters were introduced in the video game Sonic CD from 1993. This led to a bizarre rumor that the fourth movie would actually be called Sonic CD. Sorry, but that name would have confused a lot of people not “in the know.”
Paramount also confirmed four other actors yesterday: Ben Kingsley, Matt Berry, Nick Offerman, and Richard Ayoade. We don’t know if they’re playing themselves or voicing CGI characters from Sonic’s world, but the one thing they have in common is they all have deep, rich voices and are frequently used for voice over roles of that type. What do the filmmakers have in mind here?
The rest of the cast list is what you’d expect: Ben Schwartz as Sonic, Colleen O’Shaughnessey as Tails, Idris Elba as Knuckles, Keanu Reeves as Shadow, James Marsden as Tom Wachowski, Tika Sumpter as Maddie Wachowski, and Lee Majdoub as Agent Stone. Beyond the involvement of Amy and the android Sonic clone, nothing about the plot is known, but the teaser strongly implies the Chaos Emeralds will play a role (which isn’t breaking news either).
Sonic the Hedgehog 4 opens in theaters a year from now on March 19, 2027. A spinoff was announced last year for December 22, 2028; the fan theory is that it follows Shadow.
