Keanu Reeves is Officially Sonic 3’s Shadow the Hedgehog

After much speculation and no small amount of fan campaigning, Keanu Reeves has officially been cast as Shadow the Hedgehog in the Sonic the Hedgehog 3 movie.

As confirmed by The Hollywood Reporter, Reeves will be voicing Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog’s almost comically grim counterpart. How grim? Shadow’s own game, released in 2005, saw him running about with a gun, shooting enemies in the face and other assorted locations.

This seems like a cue for a ‘Gotta Whoa Faster’ gag, but the John Wick franchise has shown that Reeves can handle things getting serious. And while he never played the game itself, he put in a memorable turn as Johnny Silverhand in Cyberpunk 2077.

He’ll be joining Idris Elba as Knuckles, Ben Schwartz as Sonic, Colleen O’Shaughnessey as Tails and Jim Carrey as Doctor Robotnik. For a time it seemed as if Carrey was done with the series, and acting in general, but he’s back.

It’s not clear whether Carrey will have a major role or if he’ll just pop in to briefly twirl his magnificent ‘tache. But he’s back, alongside James Marsden as Tom Wachowski who, let’s face it, is the least memorable character in this series.

Both Sonic and Sonic 2 have been ridiculously profitable, so you can expect Sonic 3 to make it big at the box office, more so now that Reeves is on board. The film arrives in movie theatres this December 20th.