Westworld's James Marsden Will Star in Sonic the Hedgehog Movie: Report

Sonic the Hedgehog is getting his own movie, with James Marsden (Westworld) set to star, according to a new report. Paramount had earlier decided on a release date: November 15, 2019.

According to sources close to Variety, Marsden has been picked to feature in the Sonic film, which will be a combination of live action and animation. Paramount got the rights last year, and chose visual effects artist Jeff Fowler, an Oscar nominee for his 2004 animated short film Gopher Broke, as the director.

Marsden will reportedly play a sarcastic cop named Tom, who becomes friends with the blue anthropomorphic hedgehog, and the two team up to take down Sonic's main villain, Doctor Eggman.

The Sonic movie has been written by Patrick Casey and Josh Miller, who co-wrote 12 Deadly Days for YouTube Red. It will be produced by Neal H. Moritz under his Original Film label, with Deadpool director Tim Miller as executive producer, alongside Toby Ascher (Sleeping Dogs). Dmitri Johnson (Life is Strange) and Dan Jevons (We Happy Few) will co-produce.

It'll be the first time Sega's famous video game character, created by Yuji Naka, Naoto Ohshima, and Hirokazu Yasuhara in 1991, will get his own movie. Sonic's only previous appearance on the big screen includes Disney's Wreck-It Ralph, where he appeared alongside his best friend and side-kick Tails, and Eggman.

Sonic has had a much longer history on television, appearing in seven different shows between 1993 and 2014. Sonic games have sold over 350 million copies to date, including digital downloads and packaged software.

Marsden is best known for his role as gunslinger android Teddy Flood in HBO's Westworld, which is currently in its second season. He played the mutant Cyclops aka Scott Summers in X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) and X-Men (2000), and also starred in Superman Returns (2006).