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Sonic the Hedgehog actor Roger Craig Smith says the movies have sent the blue hedgehog's popularity to a whole different level.
Sonic games – as far as mainline entries in the series go – have been weirdly quiet this decade, with only Sonic Frontiers and a number of remakes, remasters, and spin-off titles to sustain it. But despite that, the series is bigger than ever thanks to the massively popular movie franchise that began in 2020 and is approaching its third sequel in 2027, with Sonic 3 being only the second video game movie to be Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes (Werewolves Within was the first, despite the game's lack of notoriety).
Speaking to GameSpot, Sonic's long-time voice actor Roger Craig Smith – who joined the series with 2010's Sonic Colors (although his voice debut as the character was at the UK's Alton Towers theme park) – was asked about where the franchise is at right now. "I really think we're just at an exciting time," Smith says, "I never would have thought that this many years later we'd be, I mean, as large of a brand as the entire thing has become sort of globally now."
Smith acknowledges that Sonic has always been popular with gamers, but "the fact that the movies have done so well, it's like, it really has sort of launched the notoriety of the character kind of into a whole other stratosphere."
Although, despite Tails actor Colleen O'Shaughnessey reprising her role for the films, Smith has mainly been the voice for the game series (albeit with some voice cameos in the likes of Wreck it Ralph, OK K.O., and being the voice of the character in the shockingly good Sonic Boom TV show).
As for the future of the game franchise, Smith says "I don't know where it goes from here," and explains, "as voice actors too, we're always like the last to sort of find out anything." Although he says this is "for good reason" as voice actors could potentially leak projects, as Devil May Cry's Daniel Southworth and Assassin's Creed Black Flag's Matt Ryan can attest to.
Sonic the Hedgehog 4 director calls it the "best Sonic movie yet" as filming officially wraps.
