We are still a little way away from the December 2024 theatrical release of Sonic the Hedgehog 3, but it looks like preparations have begun for assembling the film's cast.
According to a report by Giant Freaking Robot, Parks and Recreation star Aubrey Plaza is supposedly the filmmaker's "top choice" to play the third film's villain, replacing Jim Carrey's Dr. Robotnik after the actor announced his retirement last year.
To be clear, this report comes from Giant Freaking Robot's "trusted and proven sources", and should by no means be taken as some kind of official confirmation, so get those pinches of salt at the ready. That being said, we would be excited to see it come true.
Aside from the likes of Parks and Recreation and The White Lotus, Plaza has been known to take on more villainous roles. She previously played the antagonistic Shadow King on FX's Legion and is set to appear in the upcoming MCU series Agatha: Coven of Chaos in a potentially similar role later this year, so doing the same again in Sonic 3 isn't the most impossible idea to get your head around, we suppose.
The Sonic franchise is hardly packed with female villains, though one name that has continually cropped up since this rumour began is Rouge the Bat, who first appeared in 2001's Sonic Adventure 2. We would imagine that this would be a purely VO role if Rouge was to be introduced into the series, marking a change from the live-action villain of the prior two entries, but moving the focus away from the human world is always going to be a good thing, right?
Either way, this rumour is just that for the moment: a rumour. With the film still being a long way off, we can't imagine that there will be any official confirmation on the casting for a while yet, though we will be sure to keep an eye out.
Of course, we still have the Knuckles TV series to get behind in the meantime for some more "live-action" Sonic fun.