If you’d have said a year ago that Sonic the Hedgehog would end up as one of the highest-grossing movies of 2020, most people would have written you off as insane. But a combination of the film being much better than anticipated and COVID-19 lockdowns delaying almost all of its competitors left it jockeying for the domestic top spot with Bad Boys For Life.
A sequel – Sonic the Hedgehog 2 – was quickly greenlit and is now being fast-tracked through development for an April 2022 release. Over the past few months, we’ve been hearing whispers of casting information for the project and one of the most consistent names that’s popped up is Dwayne Johnson, who’s been repeatedly linked with voicing Knuckles the Echidna. But now, his Fast & Furious co-star (and action movie rival) Vin Diesel also seems to be up for a part, according to a rumor from famed leaker Daniel Richtman.
Diesel is no stranger to voice-over work, of course, with his MCU performances seeing him paid millions of dollars to say “I am Groot” in various ways. In fact, if Johnson wasn’t already linked to Knuckles, I’d probably have picked him for that role.
The actor is known for his tough guy characters, though, so he might be a good fit for Shadow the Hedgehog, Vector the Crocodile or Mighty the Armadillo. Or, if he was in a more villainous part, I’m sure he could do a great Metal Sonic (Dr. Robotnik’s powerful badnik modelled after Sonic himself). Heck, if the sequel really wanted to go there, Vin could even voice the goofy fishing-obsessed Big the Cat.
One benefit of adapting elements of the many Sonic the Hedgehog games is that they have a massive cast to choose from. Then again, as Sega found out to their cost, sometimes surrounding Sonic with multiple same-y ‘friends’ provides diminishing returns as focus shifts from the titular character. In any case, with the sequel expected to begin shooting in a few months from now in March 2021, we could get some firm news quite soon.