LOS ANGELES: "The Suicide Squad" star Idris Elba has boarded the cast of the upcoming animation film "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" in which he will voice the fan-favourite character Knuckles.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Ben Schwartz will reprise his role as the title character with Jeff Fowler returning to direct.
James Marsden, Tika Sumpter, Natasha Rothwell, Adam Pally, Shemar Moore and Jim Carrey also voice star in the sequel to the 2020 film.
Knuckles first appeared as an antagonist in 1994's "Sonic the Hedgehog 3" before befriending Sonic and his ally Tails and becoming a protagonist in his own right in 1995's "Sonic & Knuckles".
Pat Casey, Josh Miller and John Whittington have penned the script for "Sonic 2", from a story by Casey and Miller.
Neal H Moritz, Toby Ascher, Toru Nakahara, Hitoshi Okuno are attached to produce the film.
Executive producers are Haruki Satomi, Yukio Sugino, Shuji Utsumi, Nan Morales and Tim Miller.
Paramount Pictures will release the film on April 8, 2022.
The first "Sonic" was a box office success that raked in USD 319.7 million globally upon its opening in February 2020, making it one of the final blockbusters to be released before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world.