Sonic the Hedgehog 2 stars Idris Elba as Knuckles - no, really

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Knuckles — (Image credit: Sega, Paramount)

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 will star Idris Elba as Knuckles the Echidna.

The actor posted an image of Knuckles' distinct spiked gloves on his official Twitter account, along with the caption "Knock, knock." We know Elba hasn't just become very invested in the hand coverings of cartoon egg-laying mammals thanks to a report from Deadline that confirms that he will be playing Sonic's big red pal. Not Big the Cat big, but you know what I mean.

Knock, knock....#SonicMovie2 #Knuckles pic.twitter.com/N1PW5XaCEdAugust 10, 2021

According to the Sonic the Hedgehog 2 plot leak which surfaced less than a week after filming wrapped in May, Knuckles will appear in a villainous role as Dr. Robotnik's new partner: the two are apparently searching for an emerald with the power to create and destroy civilizations. Insert that "Obama chuckled. 'You mean the Chaos Emeralds?'" fan fiction meme here.

If Idris Elba seems like too big of a get for playing a one-off villain's henchman, well, you're probably right: Knuckles often has a contentious relationship with Sonic, going from friends to rivals and back again, but he always ends up one of the good guys. The cinematic sequel will likely follow a similar arc.

With Knuckles' casting now confirmed, the last big question is who will take on the role of Sonic's not-rival-just-BFF Tails in the sequel - and we likely won't have to wait too much longer to find out. We'll keep an eye on Twitter for yellow fox tails until then.

Hopefully Sonic the Hedgehog 2 earns a spot alongside the first film on our list of the best video game movies.

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and was formerly a staff writer at GamesRadar+.