The Sonic The Hedgehog spin-off show will be about Adam Pally learning to be an "Echidna warrior"

We heard more than a year ago that Paramount was working on a TV spin-off of its Sonic The Hedgehog movies that would center around Idris Elba’s Knuckles The Echidna—introduced as an ally of Jim Carrey’s Eggman before joining the good guys in Sonic The Hedgehog 2. We didn’t know much else about the show at the time, possibly because the studio didn’t want to spoil the very important and twist-filled plot of Sonic 2 (James Marsden is… in it?), but now Variety has some pretty cool details about what to expect from Knuckles. (Hey, we’re as surprised as anyone.)

For starters, the show will star Adam Pally as the main human, reprising his role as the Adam Pally character from the Sonic movies (Variety says he was called Wade Whipple, but there’s no way to confirm that), and it will focus on Elba’s Knuckles training him in “the ways of the Echidna warrior.” So it’s Cobra Kai, but with Adam Pally and a giant red anteater thing that is good at punching and can sort of fly. If you were to completely divorce that from any Sonic The Hedgehog baggage it may have, doesn’t that sound like a really fun show?

In addition to Idris Elba (oh, right, the red anteater guy is voiced by Idris Elba) and Adam Pally, Knuckles will feature Edi Patterson, Julian Barratt, Scott “Kid Cudi” Mescudi, and Ellie Taylor. Rory McCann from Game Of Thrones (the Hound!) will have a guest star appearance, as will Tika Sumpter (who played Maddie in the movies).

It doesn’t sound like Sonic himself will show up, unless he’s just going too fast for anyone to see him, but Variety does say that the show will take place between the events of Sonic 2 and the upcoming Sonic The Hedgehog 3, which is set to come out in late 2024. That means this might be required viewing to understand the future of the Sonic franchise, and it’s on you if Adam Pally shows up in Sonic 3 as a badass Echidna warrior and you don’t know how and why that happened.