Sonic 3 is seemingly following the path laid down by Tails and Shadow's post-credits scene debuts when it comes to introducing fresh faces for its threequel.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, director Jeff Fowler opened up on the possibility of bringing in "new characters" for Sonic 3 in a similar fashion to Tails and Shadow joining the cast after popping up in the preceding movie's after-credits stinger.
"It's fun to see the fan debates online about who's coming up next, who's going to be teased at the end of the film," Fowler said.
While Fowler obviously isn't going to give the game away just weeks from release (we'd bet a few Sonic-style rings that Metal Sonic or Silver will be teased in some way), the director has revealed that behind the scenes talks about which characters will step up next mirror some of the theorycraft that continues to do the rounds on social media and among the passionate Sonic fanbase.
"We have a lot of the same conversations. We've all got our favorites on the filmmaking side, and we're all making great cases for 'it should be this one or that one.' It is fun to keep that anticipation. This movie is no different in terms of teasing new characters."
But let's focus on the here and now. Sonic 3 is set to bring Shadow into the fold. The Ultimate Lifeform was discovered during the Sonic 2 post-credits scene and, in a separate interview, Fowler praised Shadow's voice actor Keanu Reeves for doing his homework.
"He thinks the character is awesome and he definitely understood what we were going for and he was very excited to do his version of it. Like all the cast, [he] really wants to get it right and really cares," Fowler told Sonic Revolution's Shadow Revolution online stream.
Fowler continued, "He really wanted to create a very fan-faithful version of the character. He did research. In our first meeting, he very clearly had gone and done his homework, which was awesome. I can't say enough wonderful things about Keanu and what he brought to the character and the experience of making this movie. I think people are going to really, really love his version of Shadow."
Sonic 3 stars Ben Schwartz, Keanu Reeves, Jim Carrey, Idris Elba, James Marsden, and Colleen O'Shaughnessey. It's set to hit cinemas on December 20. For more, check out the upcoming video game movies racing your way very soon, plus our previous interview with Sonic 3 producer Toby Ascher on how Sonic Adventure 2 will influence the threequel.
