Paramount finally found a way to get us interested in their Sonic the Hedgehog movies. He has two names: Idris Elba. The film company announced the gravelly-voiced actor’s casting as the bright red echidna earlier today, and Elba has confirmed the news on Twitter. 

Knock, knock….#SonicMovie2
#Knuckles
pic.twitter.com/N1PW5XaCEd

— Idris Elba (@idriselba) August 10, 2021

Elba joins a star-studded cast of Jim Carrey, James Marsden, Ben Schwartz, Tika Sumpter, Natasha Rothwell, Adam Pally, and Shemar Moore for the the sequel, which Jeff Fowler is returning to direct. The first film, despite a rough production period, managed to gross almost $320 million dollars in 2020. And there’s nothing quite like a very long worldwide pandemic to give a production company time to ideate. Despite the ample prep time, the movie will be released in April of next year, which gives fans (and maybe the haters) 3/4 of a year to meme the hell out of both Elba and the film. Many Twitter users got a head start in this department today, but still no word if Ugandan Knuckles will make an appearance – or at least get a mention – in the film. Again, we’ve got time.