Sonic the Hedgehog 3 movie reportedly casts Keanu Reeves as Shadow

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 may have cast the film’s antagonist, Shadow the Hedgehog. According to several of its sources, The Hollywood Reporter has reported that John Wick and Cyberpunk 2077 star Keanu Reeves will join the cast as the voice of Shadow the Hedgehog.

The announcement is yet unconfirmed by Paramount, which will be releasing the Knuckles spin-off series on Paramount+ later this month. While Keanu Reeves is a fairly high profile actor, he wouldn’t be the first icon of the 90s featuring in these movies, following Jim Carrey as Doctor Robotnik. The character of Shadow the Hedgehog is a dark mirror of Sonic, who in the upcoming movie is reportedly created by Doctor Robotnik in a plan to take revenge on Sonic following the events of Sonic the Hedgehog 2.

The Sonic the Hedgehog movie series had an odd start, debuting a controversial and rather unappealing initial design. Said design was revamped into into something nicer to look at after a short release date delay. This new design was broadly well-received, and the movie did well enough to spawn multiple sequels and a spin-off. Despite the initial scepticism, the Sonic the Hedgehog films have played a part in the golden age of live-action and animated video game adaptations we have had recently for capturing the spirit of the games very well.

With credits as varied as Ted in the Bill and Ted movies, Neo in the Matrix films and, of course, John Wick, Keanu Reeves seems like he has the right range of seriousness and comedic timing to be an excellent fit as Shadow the Hedgehog. At any rate, these rumours are yet unconfirmed. However with Sonic the Hedgehog 3 set to release on December 20th 2024, we are likely to get a trailer (and therefore casting confirmation) before long, likely around or during the Knuckles series, which will debut on April 26th 2024 on Paramount+.