Keanu Reeves reportedly joins Sonic 3 as Shadow the villainous hedgehog

Sonic 3 is racing towards movie theaters faster than a hedgehog catching rings. And with the newest iteration in the family-friendly action-comedy series comes a new villain: Shadow the Hedgehog. While producers and stars have stayed relatively silent about who will be voicing Shadow, a new report seems to indicate it’s a done deal… Shadow will be voiced by none other than Neo himself, Keanu Reeves.

The news comes via The Hollywood Reporter, which Hollywood reports that multiple sources tell them Reeves has joined the flick to voice the baddie.

However, when The Parent Watch asked Sonic producer Toby Ascher about the casting during an interview for Paramount+’s upcoming Knuckles spin-off series earlier today, he wasn’t ready to confirm THR’s casting reports.

“We're not diving too deep into the casting on Sonic 3 yet,” Ascher said. “But what I can tell you is that when we get to Sonic 3, it's probably the biggest, most exciting thing that we've worked on in this franchise.”

So, here’s what we do know about the franchise -- and the casting. Spinning out of Sonic the Hedgehog 2, the upcoming six-episode series Knuckles will follow the titular echidna, voiced by Idris Elba, as he trains deputy cop Wade Whipple (Adam Pally) in the ways of the warrior. That will premiere all six episodes on Paramount+ on April 26, 2024. Then on December 20, 2024, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 will premiere in movie theaters, picking up on the events of Knuckles.

The latter has all of the main cast returning, including Ben Schwartz as the voice of Sonic, Colleen O'Shaughnessey as the voice of Tails, and Tika Sumpter as Maddie Wachowski, all of whom also appear in Knuckles. Additional cast for the feature film includes Jim Carrey as Dr. Ivo “Eggman” Robotnik, Lee Majdoub as Agent Stone, as well as Krysten Ritter, Cristo Fernández, Jorma Taccone, and more. Sonic 3 is directed by Jeff Fowler, who directed the previous two movies.

Shadow was first introduced in a post-credits scene in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, and in the video games is the antithesis of the heroic Sonic. Based on reports from CinemaCon, an annual convention for theater owners in Las Vegas, it seems that the movie’s version of Shadow may have been created by Carrey’s Robotnik.

If Reeves does end up voicing the character, this is far from the first time the actor has lent his expertise to a Paramount property. Back in 2020, he played a sage, partially helpful tumbleweed in The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run.