Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog film adaptation trilogy has already seen their fair share of success at the box office, but the studio still has ambitious goals for the franchise, with plans to continue expanding the cinematic universe with a spin-off film alongside its 2027 sequel.
As reported by The Wrap, “Paramount has already pencilled a fourth film in for 2027 and is eyeing spinoff features”, which raises the interesting question of which character would get the spotlight this time around. Knuckles the Echidna, voiced by Idris Elba in the films, has already received his own solo adventure in the form of the 2024 Paramount+ series Knuckles, leaving room for other supporting characters to shine, like Tails or the more recently introduced Shadow.
In terms of likelihood, previous rumours do point to Keanu Reeves’ Shadow the Hedgehog being the one to receive the spin-off treatment. Not only is Shadow one of the most popular characters in the franchise, but a continuation of his storyline makes the most sense following the events of Sonic the Hedgehog 3, especially due to the reveal in the movie’s final post-credit scene. Shadow’s rich and tragic backstory not only makes him a viable candidate for his own film, but opens up the possibility of a prequel movie too.
While a Shadow solo film makes the most sense, it’s still possible that Sonic’s longtime sidekick Miles “Tails” Prower would get a chance to shine as well, as during a previous interview with ComicBook, Tails’ voice actress Colleen O’Shaughnessey expressed her enthusiasm for a spin-off surrounding the character. “I think you could absolutely do a spin-off with Tails. An origin story for Tails would be amazing, to see where he came from… a little baby Tails. I would love it.” she said, “Is it amazing to have him with Sonic? For sure, because they are a sidekick/hero combination. They work so well together. But I think it would be really neat to see where he came from.”
Of course, there’s still room to explore the vast lineup of other characters Paramount has yet to feature in its films, including the two newly revealed characters set to appear in Sonic the Hedgehog 4, or those that would undoubtedly see a reveal in the upcoming movie like Rouge the Bat, Silver the Hedgehog, Vector the Crocodile or Big the Cat.
For now, fans will just have to wait and see what’s in store for the Sonic the Hedgehog film franchise and its characters. Alas, it still might be a long way to go, with Sonic the Hedgehog 4 currently set for a 19 March 2027 release, but hopefully a spin-off film gets announced and released before then to provide eager fans with a brand new adventure while they wait.
Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.
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