Idris Elba Gets His Own Sonic The Hedgehog Spinoff Series With The Knuckles Trailer

You've seen these super-powered critters save the world a time or two, but what America and the world at large really want to know is ... what do they do on their day off? Apparently, for alien heroes with a taste for battle, that involves makeshift gladiatorial arenas and a never-ending quest for vengeance. That's courtesy of the popular breakout character from "Sonic the Hedgehog 2," which featured Idris Elba's dulcet tones as the voice of Knuckles. Now, ahead of this year's release of the third "Sonic" film, everybody's favorite red echidna is getting his own spin-off series titled, fittingly enough, "Knuckles."

The much more serious-minded character was a natural choice to expand the "Sonic" universe in live-action, but Paramount threw everyone a curveball when it was announced that the "Knuckles" spinoff would take the form of a streaming series on Paramount+. But if it wasn't already clear before, it should be by now: Video game movies and shows are well and truly taking over, potentially filling the void that's been left by increasingly disappointing comic book adaptations in recent months. Fast-forward a couple of years after the first "Sonic the Hedgehog" movie cleaned up at the box office and, well, we've managed to end up in a place where getting a "Knuckles" series billed as a "six-episode event" has become the norm. Welcome to the future, folks.

You can check out the new trailer for "Knuckles" above.

If the formula ain't broke, don't fix it, I suppose. After both "Sonic" movies relied heavily on the buddy-comedy effect of pairing the titular blue hedgehog (voiced by Ben Schwartz) with a bumbling human character (James Marsden), it sure looks like "Knuckles" will be taking a page out of the same playbook. This time, our temperamental red hero is struggling to adjust to life on Earth after helping to save the day, and his chosen sidekick is none other than Adam Pally as Wade Whipple, reprising his role from the previous two movies. And after all that marketing hype downplaying the "sexiness" of Elba's Knuckles voice, well, one look at the footage confirms that Elba is a big ol' liar.

Fans of the "Sonic" movies will be glad to know that much of the same creative team worked on the "Knuckles" series, which was created by John Whittington and Toby Ascher. Filmmaker Jeff Fowler returns to direct the pilot episode and will be joined by executive producers Neal H. Moritz, Toby Ascher, John Whittington, and Toru Nakahara. Directors for the other episodes include Ged Wright, Brandon Trost, Jorma Taccone, and Carol Banker. Along with Elba as Knuckles and Pally as Wade, the cast stars Stockard Channing, Edi Patterson, Scott Mescudi, Ellie Taylor, Julian Barratt, Rory McCann, Cary Elwes, Christopher Lloyd, Paul Scheer, and Rob Huebel. Appearing as special guest stars are Ben Schwartz as Sonic, Tika Sumpter as Maddie, and, of course, Colleen O'Shaughnessey as Tails.

All six episodes of "Knuckles" will be made available to stream on Paramount+ on Friday, April 26, 2024.