'The Suicide Squad' actor will be joining the returning cast members, including James Marsden, Ben Schwartz and Jim Carrey, in the sequel to the 2020 movie.
- Aug 11, 2021
AceShowbiz - Idris Elba is joining another fictional force on screen. The four-time Golden Globe award-nominated actor has been officially cast for "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" to play the famed character of Knuckles the Echidna.
Confirming the news was Elba himself as he took to his social media pages to offer a glimpse of his GCI character. The 48-year-old posted a picture of Knuckles' spiked hand. "Knock, knock…," so the actor captioned the snap.
Knuckles is a red Echidna and he's the guardian of the Master Emerald in the videogames. He is also known to be hot-headed, but sometimes gullible. He has the ability to glide and climb up walls, and is a powerful fighter with spiked hands.
According to a leaked synopsis for the film, "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" will see Elba's animated echidna teaming up with Jim Carrey's Dr. Robotnik "in search for an emerald that has the power to both build and destroy civilizations."
Meanwhile, "after defeating Dr. Robotnik and sending him to the mushroom planet, Sonic is ready for more freedom, as Tom and Maddie agree to let him stay home while they go on vacation. … Now, Sonic and his newfound best friend, Tails, embark on a journey to get the emerald, before it falls into Eggman's hands."
Elba is also joining the returning cast, which includes James Marsden, Ben Schwartz, Tika Sumpter, Natasha Rothwell and Adam Pally. Shemar Moore is added in an undisclosed role, while Miles "Tails" Prower, an anthropomorphic yellow-orange fox that serves as Sonic's sidekick, will appear in the upcoming movie. The character was previously voiced by Colleen O'Shaughnessy in the mid-credits scene of the first film.
Jeff Fowler returns behind the lens for the sequel to the 2020 action-adventure comedy film. It is scheduled for release in the United States on April 8, 2022, as filming wrapped in Hawaii on June 25.
Elba is fresh of his appearance in "The Suicide Squad", which is directed by "Guardians of the Galaxy" helmer James Gunn. He stars as mercenary Robert "Milton" DuBois / Bloodsport, who leads one of two Task Force X teams tasked with destroying the Nazi-era laboratory Jotunheim, which holds a secretive experiment known as "Project Starfish".
