I need you to brace yourself: Paramount is calling the fourth Sonic the Hedgehog movie Sonic the Hedgehog 4.
Okay, we’ve got that out of the way. Now I need you to brace for the actual news: Matt Berry is in Sonic the Hedgehog 4.
This morning, with filming on Sonic 4 already underway, Paramount released a new video confirming that the film is indeed called Sonic 4. But while the hype reel doesn’t really give us any new footage (although there is a cool shadowy look at Metal Sonic, still fresh off of its appearance in the post-credits scenes of Sonic 3), the framing of the title reveal does seem to indicate that the Chaos Emeralds are once again going to be key to stopping Sonic’s latest foe once more.
The seven Chaos Emeralds—which have existed in the games since the original Sonic the Hedgehog, initially as special stage reward items and then becoming increasingly important to Sonic lore as time went on as the keys to vast cosmic power—initially made an appearance in the films in Sonic the Hedgehog 2. After the Master Emerald (which was initially forged from the Chaos Emeralds by Knuckes’ echidna tribe) was shattered, allowing Sonic access to his gold-hued Super transformation to defeat Eggman’s giant robot, the Chaos Emeralds were scattered around the world.
They appeared again when Sonic used the Master Emerald to summon them in his battle against Shadow in Sonic 3, leading to their paired Super transformation to stop the Space Colony ARK from destroying Earth—but their fate was left unknown after the battle this time. Given their use here, it seems like finding them again will be of at least some importance to the fourth movie, as well.
But Chaos Emeralds are old hat for the Sonic movies at this point. What’s new? Some very fun casting! Paramount confirmed that alongside the returning Ben Schwartz, Idris Elba, Colleen O’Shaughnessey as the main trio of Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails, respectively—and human co-stars James Marsden, Tika Sumpter, Jim Carrey, and Lee Majdoub—as well as the recently confirmed Kristen Bell as Amy Rose, Sonic 4 will also star Ben Kingsley, Nick Offerman, Richard Ayoade, and Matt Berry in currently undisclosed roles.
That’s a lot of fun casting, but Berry is definitely going to be the most fun to speculate about. Is he Metal Sonic? Big the Cat? A regular human who just talks like Matt Berry does? The options are endless and delightful.
No doubt we’ll learn more as we spindash closer to Sonic the Hedgehog 4‘s March 19, 2027 release date.
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