Sonic the Hedgehog Director Was Terrified About Fan Reactions to Sonic’s Redesign

Sonic the Hedgehog has had a long road to release after the Internet’s collective short-circuiting when the first trailer dropped. Now, the movie’s director, Jeff Fowler, talked to Digital Spy about the changes to the blue blur’s design and how the fans will respond to it. He seems confident that people are going to love this version, but nobody will know if he’s right until the film hits theaters. Back when the first character design for Sonic debuted, Twitter and other social media was absolutely jammed with takes about how ghastly the hero looked. The limbs were too long, the teeth were an issue and the proportions actually might have spooked more people than anything else. Almost immediately, the studio decided to completely reshuffle the design after the public outcry. Now, Fowler and his team hope that can be enough.

“I think it had been about five months that had passed since the first trailer. We had worked very hard on our updates to the character. It was definitely a little bit of like, ‘Oh man, what happens if they don’t like this?‘” the director began. “But really, everyone that saw it internally as I was working on the film, just responded so positively. It really felt like, once we shared it with the fans, they would really embrace it and be excited about it.

One of the key things about the portrayal of Sonic in the movie is that he’s kind of an outcast. (Understandable for a bright blue super fast hedgehog that can talk.) The director was eager to hammer that home as well.

“As great as it is for him to have his powers, it just felt really interesting to then have the other side of that where his powers are also what are forcing him to live in this very isolated way, outside of this small town of Green Hill,” Fowler added. “And for that to actually create a little bit of a challenge for him to overcome emotionally. That just felt like a really great place to start.”

The movie stars Ben Schwartz in the titular role, with Jim Carrey as Dr. Robotnik. In the film, Sonic becomes stranded on Earth and must enlist the help of Tom Wachowski (James Marsden) in order to evade Robotnik and his robotic minions.

Sonic the Hedgehog is set to premiere on February 14, 2020, and will do so with a PG rating. For more news, rumors, leaks, media, and information on the movie, be sure to peep all of our previous and extensive coverage of it by clicking right here.