Sonic the Hedgehog 3 director Jeff Fowler has shared the significance behind his involvement in bringing Shadow to the big screen.
Shortly after the trailer for Sonic the Hedgehog 3 released online with clips of Keanu Reeves as the voice of Shadow, Fowler, the director of the 2020 live-action adaptation of Sonic the Hedgehog and its sequels, took to X/Twitter to discuss his history with the character, revealing that it dates back nearly two decades.
A full circle moment 🖤
— Sonic the Hedgehog (@SonicMovie) August 28, 2024
“One of my first jobs in the VFX industry was animating this amazing character for his first #SEGA standalone video game. Twenty years later, I could not feel more HONORED to bring SHADOW to the big screen in #SonicMovie3,” Fowler said in his post, to which the official Sonic account replied, calling it “a full circle moment.”
The black and red speedster, who first appeared in Sonic Adventure 2 on the Dreamcast before headlining Shadow the Hedgehog, the game Fowler is referring to, which came out on the GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox in 2005, is having quite the moment. Sega has even gone as far as to dub 2024 as the “year of Shadow.”
As well as featuring in the upcoming Sonic x Shadow Generations, Shadow is making his full theatrical debut in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 following a tease in the mid-credits scene of Sonic the Hedgehog 2. His role will likely be significant, as Maria Robotnik, a pivotal character in Shadow’s backstory, is also in the movie.
Sonic the Hedgehog 3, which has a logo paying homage to Sonic Adventure 2, will speed onto the big screen on December 20.
Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on X/Twitter here.
