Live-action Knuckles series and a third Sonic movie are on the way

gamesradar.com:

A third Sonic the Hedgehog movie is on the way, and so is a new live-action Paramount+ series starring his rival and begrudging buddy Knuckles the Echidna.

Paramount Pictures and Sega made the joint announcement at a Viacom investor event today, as reported by Deadline, despite the fact that the second Sonic film still isn't set to debut until April. It sounds like this is just the start of Sega and Paramount's plans for a growing cross-media franchise centered around the speedy cartoon critter.

"2022 is shaping up to be a significant year for the franchise with the second film being released this April, as well as Sonic Frontiers, the highly anticipated video game title, coming this holiday," Sega CEO Haruki Satomi said during the announcement. "Sonic has been beloved by fans across the world for over 30 years and we look forward to continuing to bring memorable moments and experiences to them for many years to come."

While the Sonic franchise has come to the small screen in several forms over the years, they've all been a) cartoons and b) centered around Sonic himself. The live-action Knuckles series coming in 2023 will be the first of its kind in both those respects, but at least we already know it's going to have some star power: Idris Elba, who will make his voice debut as Knuckles in Sonic 2, will return in the Paramount+ series as well.

You can see more of Knuckles as well as Sonic and Tails in the new Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Super Bowl trailer that debuted over the weekend.