Though the wider Sonic The Hedgehog franchise featured as part of Paramount's big CinemaCon presentation last week, with footage from Sonic 3 screened, the studio stopped short of announcing who will be providing the voice for the new — to the movies, at least — character, Shadow The Hedgehog. The executives might now wish they had, as the news has gotten out via The John Campea Show: Keanu Reeves is reportedly spending time in a voice booth to play the role.
While Paramount isn't officially commenting, the likes of Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter have since confirmed the news, with Reeves' casting as the dark twin of the Ben Schwartz-voiced main character now out in the world.
Much of what the third Sonic movie will be about remains under wraps beyond the obvious speedy gags and plots from Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey), who in the footage shown last week is initially presented as depressed and gone to seed after the events of the second, before finding a new evil lease on life after the creation of Shadow.
The character was originally crafted by Takashi Iizuka and Shiro Maekawa for the 2001 video game release Sonic Adventure 2, and has since gone on to enjoy his own franchise. His presence was teased on social media to mark the start of shooting on the new film, which will speed into cinemas on 20 December.