Sonic the Hedgehog Confirmed As a ‘Juvenile Delinquent’ In His Upcoming Film

There’s been a lot of steam building behind the CG/live-action Sonic the Hedgehog film, which is set to drop late next year and features Westworld‘s James Marsden working alongside the speedy hedgehog. But we’ve gotten a glimpse at the storyline that the film will revolve around and, well, let’s just say it’s different from the games.

While speaking at a panel covered by Deadline Hollywood, Jim Gianopulos, who serves as CEO and chairman for Paramount Pictures (the production company behind the forthcoming film), talked briefly about what to expect from the movie.

He noted about Sonic that “he’s a juvenile delinquent on the adventures in a pretty straight rural environment with a local policeman. It was instantly engaging and it was good enough where you could see where it’s going.”

Now, if you’re a fan of the games then you’re probably familiar with Sonic and the fact that he’s anything but juvenile. In fact, most of his adventures have him battling nobly against Dr. Eggman, who turns his animal friends into killer robots and launches sinister plans revolving around the Chaos Emeralds.

Now the film could still have elements of that with Eggman and possibly Metal Sonic showing up to wreak havoc while Sonic works alongside Marsden’s policeman character (if that is in fact who he’s playing). So we won’t make final judgment just yet. But changing him around into somewhat of a “juvenile delinquent” may not sit well with fans, despite the fact that Gianopulos feels that it will be “instantly engaging.”

There are some good peeps behind the project, including executive producer Tim Miller of Deadpool fame and Fast & Furious producer Jim Moritz, who showed a short clip (not released online) giving fans an idea of what to expect from the tone and theme of the film.

We’ll possibly get to see this clip in the months ahead and perhaps might even see a teaser trailer during San Diego Comic-Con next month. But for now all we can do is speculate.

What could’ve led Sonic down this path of delinquency? Too many gold rings? Going too fast in his racing games, including Team Sonic Racing? We’ll have to see where this story goes.

Sonic the Hedgehog will hit theaters in late 2019.