Sonic 3‘s Shadow Won’t Be What Years of Edgy Memes Made Him Out to Be

We’re inching ever closer to the release of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and, more importantly, witnessing the culmination of Sega’s “Year of Shadow” with Keanu Reeve’s rendition of the fan-favorite speedster. While the internet has overwhelmingly made their hype for Sonic’s rival as the second coming of edginess incarnate, Sonic’s Oscar-nominated director wants fans to prepare themselves for an origin story that goes beyond the many memes the character has garnered over the years.

Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Jeff Fowler recounted how his career has always been intrinsically linked to Sonic, from a character animator on its games with Blur Studios to the director of his Hollywood incarnation. As such, he assured fans that—as a fan who had a hand in Shadow’s standalone 2005 video game—he has their best interests at heart. Though his words of comfort came with the acknowledgment that Shadow is more than the sum of his edgy memes.

“‘Edginess’ is maybe not the right word, but there was a new element tonally that just suddenly made the Sonic world feel a little bit more exciting, a little bit more dangerous,” Fowler told EW. “I think that’s exactly what Shadow has done for this film.”

While fans have come to know Shadow as a gun-toting, motorcycle-riding badass with edges so sharp, it’d make any self-respecting 13-year-old go “Cool!”, Fowler wanted to make it clear that his origin in Sonic 3 will ride the line of fan expectations while taking into account that the film still has to be a family film. This sentiment has been extended into the newly released Sonic X Shadow Generations; speaking about the game, Sonic Team head Takashi Iizuka has stressed that Shadow doesn’t need guns because he’s already mighty.

“That’s the challenge of these films,” Fowler said. “It’s always to take what has come before in terms of the video games and the comics and all that. How do we take the essence of what the fans love and merge it with this movie treatment that we created?”

He continued. “We certainly are very respectful about what fans expect to see and what they love about the character. We’re also very aware of the times and the right way to handle that kind of imagery in a family film. I think we really ended in a great place. I think fans will watch this film and really appreciate Shadow and Maria. A lot of care and a lot of love has gone into telling Shadow’s story and giving fans the best movie version of the character imaginable.”

Of course, time will tell whether Sonic 3 fully leans into the memes imagining Shadow as John Wick or if it’ll depict a particular infamous scene in his origins. Either way, the film will live in infamy for Sonic fans for years to come.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 spin dashes into theaters on December 20.

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