Roger Craig Smith, best known as the voice actor of the one and only Sonic the Hedgehog, has announced that his role as the blue blur is coming to an end after ten years.
Smith has handled Sonic's voice acting duties since 2010 following an already-successful career in movies, animations, and other games. He announced his departure from the role of Sonic on social media today.
"Welp, 10 years was an amazing run. Onward to new zones! Much love to the fans who've been so kind. It's been an honor."
You've likely heard Smith's work in other franchises, too; he voiced Assassin's Creed's Ezio, for example, as well as Resident Evil's Chris Redfield. He's also worked on several Marvel and DC projects.
As for what's next for the actor, and indeed for Sonic? Only time will tell. Whatever happens, we wish Roger the best of luck moving forward!
[source twitter.com]
Comments 63
Gonna miss him. He was my favorite voice actor for Sonic.
Got to meet him at SXSW twice, and he was a pretty cool guy to talk to. Seemed to really like the role.
He really annoyed me in the role at first with Colors but over time, especially after Forces it started to stick. I personally grew up at the tail end of the Dreamcast VA's tenures and the start of the 4Kids cast so it hit a little harder when Jason Griffith departed since I thought he really found his footing after Unleashed, but nevertheless it was only a matter of time
I still really liked him as Ezio and Chris Redfield as well as his brief stint as Captain America in some of the animated Marvel stuff
but why? He didn't post a reason why?
Know I will speculate till I drop #$%^ of exhaustion.
Aww man!!!!
He's a great Sonic, gonna miss him.
Here we go again...
Gotta go fast...to the next part of his career!
I saw a rumour the other day about how the 2021 Sonic game Is internally called āSonic Roseā, would feature Lost World style gameplay, and Amy would be A secondary playable character.. There wasnāt any real reason to believe it, and I still donāt think there was any hard evidence, but it did also mention that the game would replace the voice cast, so I guess this gives it a tiny bit more credibility. Still not convinced though.
I was actually wondering if Sega would have Smith step aside so Schwartz could come into the games for sake of consistency. Smith was so good that losing him for any other reason would be too bad. If they announce a new VA for the games and it's not Schwartz, color me disappointed.
@chocolate_supra Ohh yes, maybe that's the reason though I think he'd be a bit over their budget. If not him they could always bring back Ryan Drummond or Jason Griffith!
@chocolate_supra The only reason they could afford Schwartz for movie Sonic was because it was on a Hollywood budget
Schwartz is very much still more centered around TV/Movies over video games and he would be particularly more expensive to hire for the games compared to stuff like whatever sequels they do for the Sonic movie
@chocolate_supra Yes I expect Schwartz to be the new official Sonic voice in games too now.
Come on, Roger. Don't do this to us...
Why is he leaving? Who will voice Sonic now?
@TheFrenchiestFry @Clyde_Radcliffe I've seen others talking about Schwartz being out of their price range but that just makes me think of this exchange with Schwartz's DuckTales castmate Danny Pudi: https://youtu.be/76HijAoXi6k
Great voice actor. He sounded pretty much exactly how Sonic would sound like. I'm gonna miss him.
Does that tweet make it sound like it wasn't an amicable step down for anybody else? Just me?
@Clyde_Radcliffe I do have a soft spot for Drummond. But let's go even further back! Bring back Jaleel White!!!
Man, I love a lot of the sonic voice actors, but Roger Craig Smith was definitely my favorite. Hope he continues to do well.
Another new Sonic voice now? It took me ages to appreciate the newer one, and I can only do that while reasoning that the current Sonic is like a very late teen, compared to being an early teen from his earlier voiced games. At this rate, he's going to have to have an adult voice now...
I'm not ready for this, unless they decide to make his voice near identical to one of those previous ones with whoever comes next. Or model it after the one from the Sonic OVA; of which I have a soft spot for, for some reason.
Oof that hurts. Well now maybe the movie sonic voice actor will be sonic in the games
@chocolate_supra I mean A. DuckTales is still a high profile cartoon show and has cast members like Don Cheadle and David Tennant, and B. It's Disney. They can pay for anyone. SEGA and Disney are definitely not on the same level when it comes to spending money lol
I honestly didnāt mind him in the role. Maybe not as iconic as the last guy but he did get into the swing of things after Colours. I love him as Ezio too. Gonna be weird having a new actor. Also found it hilarious that he did the voice over for Say Yes to the Dress as every time my mum put it on, all I could hear was CHILLI DOGS
I read that tweet in Sonic's voice.
Ahh.
This does not feel like he chose that at all.
Ryan Drummond is still my fav, and the reason I became a voice actor in the first place. I still have the e-mail he sent me when I was 13 (I'm 33 now) in response to my fan mail. It took me a long while to accept another as Sonic, and now he has gone too. Why do they keep doing it!
Hopefully Mike Pollack survives AGAIN if it is a cull.
@Munchlax I doubt it, since Tails was actually replaced way back in 2014 and several characters were replaced in Team Sonic Racing (Knuckles and Blaze were iirc)
For those that do miss Drummond, he recently did a 5 part fan audio drama series with EmuEmi in which he reprises his role
@TheFrenchiestFry Oh I know, I know, I'm just being a dork. I think that bit with Pudi is funny, not that it's an absolute indication that the DuckTales VAs aren't top-rate talent.
Semi-related: Schwartz's interviews with Larry King are fun as well.
Get Ben Schwartz in to voice him in future games. If Sega wants to grow the movie into a film franchise, it wouldn't hurt to have some cohesiveness between the movies' and games' voice cast.
That is too bad. In my eyes, he was probably the best voice actor for the Hedgehog.
2021 is the year of Sonic!
It's a shame to see Roger go, I always liked his take on Sonic
Not an article I was expecting to wake up to.
FFS! Next thing you know they'll replace Mike Pollock!
Aw man I will miss him.
I have to say I'm more of a fan of Drummond and Griffith as Sonic. I felt their voices matched Sonic more than Roger's but good luck to him. 10 years of voicing Sonic must be a record.
I wonder they'll update Smash Ultimate with the new voice actor when he takes over.
A darn shame; he was always my favorite voice for Sonic. What's also a shame is that this Tweet reads like he wasn't stepping down on his own accord which is only making me think that Sega is arbitrarily replacing him, which makes little sense to me considering he's been voicing him longer than any other English voice for the character.
and this happens before the anniversary ?
I'm not saying he is a bad VA or anything don't get me wrong, but if I were to be completely honest here I have always found Sonics voice to be annoying. This goes for every VA he has had, not just Roger. It has less to do with the voices behind it, but rather the character sonic is himself. He is supposed to be super sarcastic, annyoing and snarky with one-liners up the wazoo which doesn't fit right with me if I wanna like a character
Godspeed Mr. Smith.
I honestly don't know who he is but it's good to know he had a good career as the voice of Sonic for this long. With the pandemic still condemning us, I could see why he depart now. Sometimes you just had to know when enough is enough. Good luck to whoever the next chosen one is to voicing Sonic going forward.
@xxx128 he's talked in sonic cd and all the commercials and all the tv shows so Sonic has actually talked basically since the beginning.
@xxx128 Remember when Sonic first talk?
I just realized that Sonic had an Uncle Mario.
It's crazy that he voiced Sonic for 10 years already. I think that's the longest english voice we've had for Sonic
Finally, now just to wait for Jason Griffith to announce his return, or Drummond of course.
Don't want to koopa shell on the actor, but his Sonic was terribly unfitting, never got used to it, plus his voice intro came with the personality shift that I hate so much. Ten years of pain, this really is a great 30th anniversary--game or not. First the leaked sonic 1 proto, then the Sonic 2 widescreen mod, then the ports of the mobile remakes, now this, to top it all off Balan Wonderworld.
@Ultrasmiles Yeah they are bringing back Jaleel White
Plot Twist, they bring back the worst VA, From Sonic's Schoolhouse
He wasn't my favorite voice for Sonic, but I can't deny he was a good choice (and he did a great job). Whoever's coming next will have some big shoes to fill, following so many others.
Also, it seems like the voice changes seem to happen whenever Sega changes Sonic's general personality. We've had radical 90's, Y2K edgy, 2000s sincere, and 2010s postmodern/meme-y... Where do you even go from here?
@DTFaux How about Ben Schwartz? His voice fits well with sonic like in the movie.
"True art is temporary. Because my art is an explosion." --Deidara from Naruto. Another character that Roger voiced.
Gonna miss him, but it was fun while it lasted.
@Pacmanrace He definitely works for the green-horned, confident-yet-naive archetype that Sonic was in the movie, but I'm not sure if he'd fit as well for the usual type of Sonic that exudes confidence 99% of the time.
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! YEEEAH! i REALLY hope this is the start of a new era for Sonic.
NOOOOO I loved this voice actor NOOO NOO NOO MY GOD not only if we get bad sonic games with bad lines we get a bad voice actor to do it all, And who knows I might like the new one but I didn't even like sonics voice in the movie.
He was a good voice for Sonic. Good luck to him whatever he decides to do for now on.
Very sad to see Roger Craig Smith go. š
I hope the next Sonic VA sounds similar to him, and that he has success with whatever he's doing next.
@Eddyson, @Goat_FromBOTW, @Ultrasmiles, @OstianOwl, @EmmatheBest, @Bobb, @mr-duster
Here's why I think Roger Craig Smith "stepped down" as Sonic:
The last time they got rid of the Sonic VA (and the rest of the VA's for the Sonic series), Sega was starting to take a different approach for the Sonic series, so expect the rest of the Sonic characters to have VA changes sooner than later, if they indeed are taking Sonic in a new direction (again). š¤
Pacmanrace wrote:
@Pacmanrace
This is for anyone:
Speaking of Sonic VA's, does anyone know what happened to the "old" Mario & Sonic announcer (2010 - Sochi 2014)? He's been MIA since Rio 2016. š¤
damn rip š
sega should send a truckload of chili dogs to his house
@SM3DASislit I really hope they are.
Check out the consoles. W O A H !
@Goat_FromBOTW
We'll have to see, but it lines up with previous times that the Sonic series has been taken into a new direction.
If you don't mind me asking, do you not like the direction Sonic is going currently? š¤
@SM3DASislit Not at all! Yeah I donāt like it. Mania was good but I always preferred 3D Sonic. SA2 is my favorite game and I think my favorite era was the dark age. From a dark age fan, the current stories are bland, donāt take themselves seriously at all, and are too meta. The 2010s have been mostly classic and 2D stuff, which isnāt great for 3D fans. Sonic Forces was the culmination of this. A 2D game disguised as 3D, which has been the majority of 3D games this decade (love Generations though.) The levels are incredibly lazy, and rarely does the theme make sense with the story. I could make a 20 minute video on why I think the brand should return to itās former tone, but there are dozens of those. I recommend Jās reviews Sonic retrospective, which has some similar ideas to mine. So while roger has a fine voice, itās heavily associated with a decade of mediocrity in my eyes. I really hope they bring back the old writers and Jason Griffith. But donāt fire Mike Pollock heās a legend.
@Goat_FromBOTW
Okay, thanks for letting me know.
I would say that I also prefer 3D Sonic as well. I haven't played either of the Sonic Adventure games, so let's hope that they get a re-release for Sonic's 30th anniversary. š¤
What exactly do you mean by Sonic's "dark age"? I believe you mean Sonic games like Sonic 06, Shadow, Sonic Unleashed, the Sonic Story games, etc. as Sonic's "dark age", but I still want to verify. š¤
Yeah, I heard Sonic Forces wasn't that good. There are a lot of videos of that, but what you want Sonic to go back to seems to be different than most of the Sonic fans, so I would say make the video. So, you're saying you want the Sonic games to go to back more of the style of the Adventure series, correct? š¤
Oh okay, that makes sense with Rogers voice being associated with a decade of mediocrity. We'll have to wait and see what happens for Sonic's 30th. Haha, yeah Mike Pollock is a legend (and so is the guy who voiced Eggman/Robotnik in the AOSOH TV show). š¤
@SM3DASislit Dark Age is the period between 2005 to 2010. I actually love that era, Sonic and the Black Knight, Unleashed, Riders, Rush, etc. The reason it's often called that is that the stories were much darker than before, or at least more serious. What I want for the franchise is a Sonic Adventure game with SA2/Dark Age story and Adventure gameplay. Here's someones idea for a SA3. The story isn't exactly what I want but the tone is pretty close. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2hTAn6348k
@Goat_FromBOTW
Sorry for the very, very, very late reply, I've just been really busy recently.
Anyways, I figured that's what the Dark Age was, but thanks for letting me know anyways, though. That's an unpopular opinion, but I'm glad you enjoy those Sonic games. (Just don't tell the rest of the Sonic fanbase because 95% of them will probably disagree with you). š¤
That story sounds like an interesting concept and would really cool if it actually happened.
Hello. I am from the future. I am here to tell you that Roger will indeed continue to voice Sonic. Thank you and goodbye.
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