Knuckles (TV series)

Knuckles
Intertitle from the series' animated opening sequence
Genre	Action-adventure Comedy
Created by	John Whittington Toby Ascher
Based on	Sonic the Hedgehog by Sega[a]
Showrunner	Toby Ascher
Written by	John Whittington Brian Schacter James Madejski
Directed by	Jeff Fowler Brandon Trost Ged Wright Jorma Taccone Carol Banker
Starring	Idris Elba Adam Pally
Opening theme	"The Warrior" by Scandal
Composer	Tom Howe
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of episodes	6
Production
Executive producers	John Whittington Jeff Fowler Neal H. Moritz Toby Ascher Toru Nakahara Idris Elba Haruki Satomi Shuji Utsumi
Producers	Samantha Waite Hitoshi Okuno
Cinematography	Brandon Troust Peter Wilike
Editors	Richard Ketteridge Al LeVine Liyana Mansor
Running time	23–33 minutes
Production companies	Paramount Pictures Sega of America Original Film
Original release
Network	Paramount+
Related
Sonic the Hedgehog film series

Knuckles is an American television miniseries created by John Whittington and Toby Ascher for the streaming service Paramount+, based on the Sonic the Hedgehog video game series published by Sega. It is a spin-off of the Sonic the Hedgehog film series and the first live-action Sonic television series. The series takes place between the events of the films Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022) and Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (2024), and follows Knuckles the Echidna as he trains deputy sheriff Wade Whipple in the ways of the Echidna warrior. Whittington was head writer, with Ascher as showrunner.

Idris Elba reprised his voice role as Knuckles from the film series and stars alongside Adam Pally, reprising his role as Wade. The series was announced in February 2022 during a ViacomCBS investor event, with Elba on board with the project. Production began in London, England, in April 2023, with Sonic film director Jeff Fowler directing the pilot and further casting announced. Ged Wright, Brandon Trost, Jorma Taccone, and Carol Banker directed the following episodes. Tom Howe composed the score.

Knuckles premiered on Paramount+ on April 26, 2024, with all six episodes. It received generally positive reviews from critics.

Premise[edit]

The series takes place between the events of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022) and Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (2024), and follows Knuckles the Echidna as he trains deputy sheriff Wade Whipple in the ways of the Echidna warrior.^[3]

Cast and characters[edit]

Main[edit]

• Idris Elba as Knuckles the Echidna, a hot-headed and serious anthropomorphic red echidna with super strength. Elba said the series would explore Knuckles being "a fish out of water" after moving to Earth at the end of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022),^[4] and further delve into his character. Elba ad-libbed part of his dialogue during recording.^[5]
• Adam Pally as Wade Whipple, a dim-witted deputy sheriff of Green Hills who Knuckles trains in the ways of an echidna warrior.^[3]

Recurring[edit]

• Cary Elwes as "Pistol" Pete Whipple, an eccentric 27-time championship bowler and Wade's father.^[6][7]
• Edi Patterson as Wanda Whipple, Wade's sister.^[3]
• Stockard Channing as Wendy Whipple, Wade's mother.^[6]
• Julian Barratt as Jack Sinclair^[3]
• Rory McCann as The Buyer, a former lackey of Doctor Robotnik who seeks to obtain Knuckles' power.^[3]
• Scott Mescudi as Agent Mason, an agent working for The Buyer.^[3]
• Ellie Taylor as Agent Willoughby, an agent working for The Buyer.^[3]

Guest starring[edit]

• Tika Sumpter as Maddie Wachowski, Knuckles, Sonic, and Tails' adoptive mother and Green Hills' veterinarian.^[3]
• Ben Schwartz as Sonic the Hedgehog, an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who can run at supersonic speeds.^[8]
• Colleen O'Shaughnessey as Miles "Tails" Prower, an anthropomorphic yellow-orange fox who can fly with his two tails.^[8]
• Christopher Lloyd as the ghost of Pachacamac, an echidna who was perished with his tribe when they tried to capture Longclaw, Sonic's former adoptive mother.^[6][9]

Paul Scheer and Rob Huebel have also been cast in undisclosed roles.

Episodes[edit]

Production[edit]

Development[edit]

During development on Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022), the production team decided to expand the Sonic the Hedgehog film franchise by developing television series. The producers decided to have the first Sonic spin-off to star Knuckles the Echidna due to them having enjoyed the character's comedic potrayal in the film^[13] and wanting to homage the Sonic the Hedgehog 3/Sonic & Knuckles double-feature by releasing the show around the same time as Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (2024).^[13][14] By February 2022, development had begun on a Sonic the Hedgehog series focusing on Knuckles for release on Paramount+ in 2023. Sega and Paramount Pictures officially announced the series' development at the ViacomCBS Investor Day presentation in February, with Idris Elba confirmed to be reprising his role as Knuckles from the then-upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and the series serving as a spin-off of the film.^[15][16] In June 2022, Paramount CEO Brian Robbins referred to the series as a miniseries.^[17]

In April 2023, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 co-writer John Whittington was announced as the series' developer and head writer. Whittington will also executive produce the series alongside Elba and Sonic film franchise creatives Neal H. Moritz and Toby Ascher of Original Film, Jeff Fowler, and Toru Nakahara. Paramount Pictures and Sega of America would serve as production companies on the series.^[3] In February 2024, it was reported that Ascher had received a co-developer credit alongside Whittington and served as the series's showrunner.^[8] The producers developed the series as if it was a third film in the franchise.^[18] In April 2024, Ascher said future seasons of Knuckles are possible should the series prove successful and if the filmmakers had "a really great story to tell".^[13]

Writing[edit]

The series had been in the writing stages by April 2022,^[4] with Whittington writing alongside Brian Schacter and James Madejski.^[3] For the show's plot, the writers decided to reuse the buddy comedy approach from Sonic the Hedgehog (2020), which was favored by the crew. Rather than having one of the characters serve as the straight man of the duo, the writers wanted both Knuckles and Wade to be "wildcards in a buddy comedy" due to its comedic potential.^[19] The writers wanted the series to be an homage to the 90s comedies film Ascher watched in his childhood, in a similar vein to the Sonic films drawing inspiration from different genres.^[14]

The series is set between Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (2024), and will include easter eggs to set-up the events and narrative of the latter.^[17][3] The series also explores the ramifications of the events in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, particularly G.U.N. gaining access to Sonic and Knuckles' quills and rings. Ascher, who drew inspiration from other franchises such as Marvel Comics, said this was done as a way to expand the franchise's mythology by questioning how would its events affect the real world.^[20]

Casting[edit]

In April 2023, it was reported that the series would follow Knuckles as he trains Wade Wipple, with Adam Pally reprising his role as Wade. Also cast in recurring roles were Edi Patterson, Julian Barratt, Scott Mescudi, and Ellie Taylor, with guest stars including Rory McCann as well as Tika Sumpter reprising her role as Maddie.^[3] Additional cast members were confirmed, including Cary Elwes, Stockard Channing, Christopher Lloyd, Paul Scheer, and Rob Huebel in June 2023.^[6] In February 2024, it was announced that Ben Schwartz and Colleen O'Shaughnessey would reprise their roles as Sonic the Hedgehog and Miles "Tails" Prower in a guest star capacity.^[8]

Filming[edit]

Production on the series began by April 2023, in London, England. Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 director Jeff Fowler directed the pilot, with Ged Wright, Brandon Trost, Jorma Taccone and Carol Banker also serving as directors.^[3] The series was shot back-to-back with Sonic the Hedgehog 3.^[18] Unlike the previous two Sonic films, a puppet of Knuckles was used during filming instead of a stand-in,^[14] which allowed Pally to improvise.^[21]

Visual effects and animation[edit]

Visual effects providers for the series include Industrial Light & Magic, Fin Design,^[13] Rising Sun Pictures, Outpost VFX, and Untold Studios.^[14] In order to achieve the same animation quality as the movies, the producers changed its entire production pipeline, including hiring six animation vendors instead of one as with the films.^[14] The studio also had an in-house team working on character rigs that the vendors later "worked over",^[14] allowing for a quicker animation development process and the producers to maintain quality control.^[13][14] This also allowed the producers to have an in-house animation team to work on both Knuckles and Sonic the Hedgehog 3, which helped the team reduce costs.^[14] The series had over 300 more digital shots than Sonic the Hedgehog.^[18]

Music[edit]

In place of Tom Holkenborg, who composed for the Sonic films, Tom Howe, composer of Early Man and Shrinking, has been assigned to compose the music for the series.^[22] "The Warrior" by Scandal appears as the series' opening theme.^[23] A soundtrack for the series will be released on April 26, 2024.^[24]

Release[edit]

Marketing[edit]

At the NXT Stand & Deliver professional wrestling event on April 6, 2024, a Knuckles mascot was present in the audience for the NXT North American Championship match, which was sponsored by the show.^[25]

Broadcast[edit]

Knuckles premiered on Paramount+ on April 26, 2024.^[12]

Reception[edit]

The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 69% based on 13 critic reviews, with an average rating of 6/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Pairing Idris Elba's terse echidna with a befuddled Adam Pally, Knuckles could use some extra punch to appeal more broadly beyond youngsters but hits just fine as light family entertainment."^[26] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 63 out of 100 based on 8 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[27]

See also[edit]

• List of television series based on video games

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Knuckles on Paramount+
• Knuckles at IMDb