Sonic The Hedgehog 2 Confirms Who's Playing Tails Alongside Idris Elba's Knuckles

Tails in Sonic the Hedgehog movie's end-credits scene
(Image credit: Paramount Pictures)

When Sonic the Hedgehog 2 arrives next year, Ben Schwartz’s version of the title character won’t be the only anthropomorphic animal involved in the story. We’ve known for a while that Idris Elba has been tapped to play the sequel’s version of Knuckles the Echidna, who, like his video game counterpart, starts out as Sonic’s adversary. Luckily, Sonic will be assisted by longtime ally Miles “Tails” Prower, and it’s been confirmed that Colleen O'Shaughnessey is back to voice the role in Sonic the Hedgehog 2.

Colleen O'Shaughnessey has been voicing Tails in the Sonic the Hedgehog video games since 2014, and she briefly cameoed as the character in the Sonic the Hedgehog movie’s end-credits scene. Today on Twitter, the actress shared on Twitter that she’s back to play Tails for Sonic the Hedgehog 2, as opposed to the sequel bringing in a celebrity to take over as the character.

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It’s like the old saying goes: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. After nearly a decade of voicing Tails in video games and contributing a few lines to the first Sonic the Hedgehog movie, it makes sense why Colleen O'Shaughnessey with her distinctive vocal talents was brought back for Sonic the Hedgehog 2 rather than recast. Even the people who aren’t fans of the Sonic the Hedgehog video games, but saw the first movie, might have been a tad baffled over why Tails’ voice was different had someone new been brought aboard.

Following the defeat of Jim Carrey’s Dr. Robotnik in Sonic the Hedgehog, Tails arrived on Earth through a ring portal in search of Sonic, saying the following after studying some kind of scanning device:

If these readings are accurate, he’s here! I found him! I just hope I’m not too late.

As far as Sonic the Hedgehog 2 plot details go, the sequel sees Sonic getting to stay home while his guardians, James Marsden’s Tom and Tika Sumpter’s Maddie, go on vacation. Unfortunately, this coincides with Dr. Robotnik finally escaping from the mushroom planet and having someone allied himself with Knuckles. Together, the two are intent on obtaining a powerful emerald that’s able to build and destroy civilizations.

It’s unclear at this point if Tails came to find Sonic on Earth specifically for help combating this threat or another reason, but either way, these two will race to find the emerald before Robotnik and Knuckles do. Beyond that, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is largely shrouded in mystery, although along with Adam Pally, Natasha Rothwell and Lee Majdoub reprising their respective roles, S.W.A.T.’s Shemar Moore has been cast as a yet-to-be-identified character. Behind the scenes, Jeff Fowler reprised his directing duties, and Pat Casey and Josh Miller returned to write the script alongside John Whittington.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 speeds into theaters on April 8, 2022, and if you’re curious about what other movies are slated for the coming year, read through our 2022 release schedule. Those of you looking to stream the first Sonic the Hedgehog movie can do so over on Hulu.

Adam Holmes
Senior Content Producer

Connoisseur of Marvel, DC, Star Wars, John Wick, MonsterVerse and Doctor Who lore, Adam is a Senior Content Producer at CinemaBlend. He started working for the site back in late 2014 writing exclusively comic book movie and TV-related articles, and along with branching out into other genres, he also made the jump to editing. Along with his writing and editing duties, as well as interviewing creative talent from time to time, he also oversees the assignment of movie-related features. He graduated from the University of Oregon with a degree in Journalism, and he’s been sourced numerous times on Wikipedia. He's aware he looks like Harry Potter and Clark Kent.