Sonic 4 Casts New Hero Amy Rose (And Fans Will Love the Actor)

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 is headed into production to meet its 2027 release date, and now we know that a fan-favorite actor has been cast to voice a fan-favorite franchise character. And it’s perfect.

If you don’t know, Sonic 3 ended the first trilogy with a Marvel-style post-credits scene, which teased a whole new saga for Sonic and the gang. While taking a friendly race with his buddies Tails (Colleen O’Shaughnessey) and Knuckles (Idris Elba), Sonic (Ben Schwartz) ended up alone in the woods, where he was jumped by a gang of Metal Sonic robots (inspired by the games). Before Sonic got taken down, however, a mysterious hammer-wielding hedgehog in a hood sprang out and saved his butt. Fans instantly knew: Amy Rose was getting her big-screen debut in Sonic 4.

Sonic 4 Reveals Amy Rose’s Voice Actor (And It’s Perfect)

Kirsten Bell (The Good Place) has been cast as Amy Rose in Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Ben Schwartz confirmed it via his social media pages, posting on Instagram that, “WE HAVE OUR AMY ROSE!!! And I could not be more excited!!! Please welcome the incredible @kristenanniebell to the @sonicmovie family!!!” The two actors appeared in a photo together, each holding a toy figurine of their respective characters.

Amy Rose made her debut in the 1993 game Sonic CD. That game for the Sega CD system saw Dr. Robotnik capture a planet that only appears in the sky once a year, and tries to transform it into his ultimate robot-production fortress. Not only that, the game went full sci-fi by having Robotnik harness seven “Time Stones” that allowed him ot access the past and future to further his own mad experiments and creations. Sonic had to get help from a plucky hedgehog (with a big crush on him) named Amy Rose to jump through the timestream and stop Robotnik’s plot.

Read Next

Everything to Know About Sonic 3’s Pink Hedgehog Amy Rose

Amy Rose took on a cult following thereafter, with some fans loving the addition of a female hedgehog character to the lore, while others thought the plucky, love-sick fangirl was more annoying or offensive than revolutionary. Amy Rose has since evovled itno a cult icon of the Sonic universe; needless to say, there is a lot of empty canvas for Kristen Bell to paint a new portrait of the character on. Her introduction in Sonic 3 already suggests she’ll be much more of an independent badass in this modern depiction.

Right now, the regular cast of the Sonic series is expected to return for the fourth film – that includes O’Shaughnessey, Elba, James Marsden and Tika Sumpter as Sonic’s guardians Tom and Maddie Wachowski; Natasha Rothwell and Shemar Moor ans Rachel and Randall Handel, and the various stars (Krysten Ritter, Adam Pally, Lee Majdoub, and others, who all pop in and out of the franchise. The exception is Jim Carrey as Dr. Robotnik, who has yet to be officially confirmed after being killed off in the third film (although rumors say talks are underway).

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 already has a release date of March 19, 2027. Discuss the film series with us on the ComicBook Forum!