The Sonic the Hedgehog franchise is showing no signs of slowing down, as Sonic the Hedgehog 3 continues to break box office records and Sonic the Hedgehog 4 has already landed a 2027 release date. Details on the Blue Blur’s fourth big-screen adventure remain scarce, but it’s more than likely that Ben Schwartz will return to voice Sonic while Jeff Fowler returns to the director’s chair. It will also probably feature Sonic’s self-proclaimed “girlfriend” Amy Rose and the mechanical menace of Metal Sonic, as both of those characters showed up in Sonic the Hedgehog 3’s post-credits scene. But there’s another character that could show up in Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Rouge the Bat.
Rouge the Bat Has a Complicated Relationship With Sonic

Image via Sega

Rouge makes her first appearance in Sonic Adventure 2, and immediately runs afoul of Knuckles the Echidna since she was trying to steal the Master Emerald out from under his nose. During their scuffle, Knuckles ends up shattering the Master Emerald, leading him and Rouge to hunt for the shards. Eventually, Rouge joins up with Doctor Robotnik and Shadow the Hedgehog, but it turns out that she is secretly working for G.U.N., the government organization that plays a prominent role in the Sonic the Hedgehog films. While Rouge’s alliances tend to waver (especially where priceless artifacts are concerned), she’s best known for her complicated relationship with Knuckles and for forming Team Dark: an alliance that consists of herself, Shadow, and E-123 Omega, one of Robotnik’s robots who swore vengeance upon the not-so-good doctor.

Related

The 10 Best Quotes in the Sonic the Hedgehog Movies, Ranked

“Where am I? What year is it? Is the Rock president?”

In the same vein as other Sonic characters, Rouge made the jump from games to other media. She plays a prominent role in the Sonic X anime, which adapts the Sonic Adventure games; her relationship with G.U.N. is still intact, though the anime also dials up her romantic tension with Knuckles. Rogue also recently appeared in the Sonic Prime series on Netflix, which features wildly different versions of her and Sonic’s other allies due to Sonic shattering a reality-changing crystal. But it turns out that she could have appeared in one of the Sonic the Hedgehog films!
‘Sonic the Hedgehog 3′ Was Subject To Multiple Rumors About Rouge

Image via SEGA

In the lead-up to Sonic the Hedgehog 3, fans were convinced that Rouge would show up in some capacity. There were even rumors that Krysten Ritter would voice the infamous thief when she joined Sonic 3’s cast – a rumor that was debunked when set photos revealed her to be a high-ranking G.U.N. Agent. Even weirder were the rumors that Sarah Paulson would play Rouge, and while Paulson was quick to debunk the rumors, she also didn’t turn the idea down, saying that she was “down to” bring Rouge to life. But Pat Casey and Josh Miller, who penned all three Sonic movies, revealed to IGN that they had tried to include Rouge in the screenplays for all three Sonic films. It’s probably understandable why she didn’t make the cut, as the Sonic the Hedgehog sequels put focus on Tails, Knuckles and Shadow. But Sonic the Hedgehog 4 could change that.
The Sonic the Hedgehog Movies Would Have a Completely Different Dynamic With Rouge

Casey and Miller have hinted that, in addition to touching upon more of the Sonic games’ lore, they’d love to take Sonic the Hedgehog 4 out into space, and that would be the perfect way for Rouge to enter the story. Sonic and his friends are confirmed to be aliens, as is Shadow, so it only makes sense that the trend would continue for other species in the Sonic universe. Having Rouge around could also provide an entirely new dynamic; she could help form Team Dark, which would lead to a return for Shadow, and her dynamic with Knuckles is also ripe for exploration (especially as the echidna led his own standalone series for Paramount+).

Whatever shape Sonic the Hedgehog 4 takes, it’s clear that the stage has been set for Rouge the Bat to enter the franchise. Not only would it continue the Sonic movies’ penchant for balancing an increasingly entertaining film franchise with a surprisingly well-crafted video game adaptation, but it would allow Casey and Miller to finally check a big item off their Sonic screenwriting list. The only question is if someone at Paramount has Sarah Paulson’s number.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3

Release Date

December 20, 2024

Runtime

110 minutes

Director

Jeff Fowler

Writers

Josh Miller, Patrick Casey, John Whittington

Producers

Neal H. Moritz, Tim Miller, Toru Nakahara, Tommy Gormley, Toby Ascher, Haruki Satomi, Hitoshi Okuno, Yukio Sugino