James Marsden to Star in Sonic the Hedgehog Movie

I think part of the reason the gaming world is swirling so excitedly around the Sonic the Hedgehog movie is because everyone is absolutely sure it’s going to be garbage, but we also want to be proven wrong. It’s kind of like the Lego Movie – on paper, it sounds terrible, but when you actually walked into theaters it proved to be both affecting and poignant and super funny? I think we’re all hoping the same thing will happen to the Blue Blur, even though no one is brave enough to predict it’ll actually happen.

Regardless. While we know for sure who’ll be directing (Jeff Fowler, who’s done basically no other movies before) and producing (Tim Miller, Deadpool 1 director) it, we were never quite sure who was going to star in it. That is, until Variety reported just the other day that Westworld and X-Men star James Marsden has recently been added onto the project as the star.

There weren’t many other details, but it gives you a lot to think about on its own. For one, we don’t know what role he’ll be playing, as the movie is supposed to be a mix of live-action and CGI, which means he could be the leading human character. It could also mean, of course, that he’s been hired to be Sonic’s voice actor. Unlike, say, Mario, who has a single iconic voice (Charles Martinet – and if he’s not in the Illumination version of the Mario movie I will riot), Sonic has had a number of people voice him through the years, both in Japanese and in English. So both options are equally likely.

I don’t know enough about movies to tell if James Marsden is any good, but I guess we’ll find out in November of 2019 when the dang thing finally launches.