Giving a supporting character their own spin-off is a risky business. For every brilliant series such as Better Call Saul, Frasier or Angel (series one, two, three and five), there’s a grave miscalculation in the form of a Joey, The Book of Boba Fett or Angel (series four). After the runaway success of the Sonic films, which have a third instalment on the way, Paramount+ has selected Knuckles, the steely echidna, for the spin-off treatment – and for all the brazen product placement and IP cash-grabbing, it’s a risk that pays off.
Idris Elba reprises his role from Sonic the Hedgehog 2 , as a hot-tempered and self-serious red echidna warrior from space who, as we are frequently reminded, is the last of his kind after an owl-led genocide took his home planet. Having been briefly tricked by Doctor Robotnik (a thankfully absent scenery-chewing Jim Carrey) to fight for the bad guys in the previous film, he has now teamed up with Sonic and Tails and moved in with the Wachowskis (Tika Sumpter and a puzzlingly absent James Marsden). This set-up is not going especially well as the series begins, due to Knuckles’s tendency to start the day by punching boulders and attempting to train the “wolf” (actually a docile labrador) to be a fierce warrior. With all the smashed walls and echinadian fighting rituals, Knuckles finds himself grounded. But he soon defies the punishment to hit the road with Wade Whipple (Adam Pally), a hapless but sweet-natured deputy sheriff, to help him become a bowling champion. Naturally, as this is a Sonic spin-off there’s also some fighting to be done and Knuckles and Wade find themselves pursued by two former G.U.N agents played by Kid Cudi and British comedian Ellie Taylor.
