Sonic 2: Idris Elba Is Playing Knuckles And We're As Confused As You Are

The Suicide Squad star Idris Elba has teased that he'll be playing a familiar face, kind of, in the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog 2 film. A post on Twitter heavily implied he'll be playing the part of Knuckles, the Sonic antagonist-turned-ally. It was followed up by confirmation from official movie accounts and actor Ben Schwartz.

It's hard to interpret the tweet any other way considering he hashtags both the Sonic sequel and the name of the character. Knuckles has generally been a bit gruffer and grouchier than Sonic, though not traditionally British. We'll have to see if he puts on an American accent for the role, as he has extensively in other past roles.

After Elba's tweet, it was answered by Schwartz, who plays Sonic, with a "Who's there?" The official Sonic Twitter account also signal-boosted the tweet.

Knuckles debuted in Sonic the Hedgehog 3, where he guarded the Chaos Emeralds and generally got in the way of Sonic and Tails. When it turned out to be a big misunderstanding, of course, Knuckles joined the good guys against Dr. Eggman aka Robotnik.

In the first film, it's established that a tribe of echidnas were hunting down Sonic for unspecified reasons, prompting his escape to Earth. Given that Knuckles is an echidna, that detail is probably going to be significant.

The Sonic the Hedgehog 2 film is scheduled for release on April 8, 2022. A post-credits sequence in the first film suggested that Tails is coming, and early rumored plot synopses have said that Robotnik will return from his ring-induced exile with Knuckles as an ally. And this time actor Jim Carrey might be sporting Robotnik's signature mustache, judging by the end of the first film.