In a rather fascinating turn of events, actor and comedian Jim Carrey is reported to be reprising the role of the villainous Dr. Robotnik in Sonic the Hedgehog 3, after declaring that he was retiring from acting.
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The news comes from Variety, who have exclusively made the announcement. While neither Carrey nor Sonic the Hedgehog director Jeff Fowler have addressed the news, the official Sonic the Hedgehog account on X had seemingly teased the comedian’s return to acting.
“You all thought I was gone, but I’ve just been underground,” prefaced the social media post. “What you’ve seen from me is only a #shadow of things to come…”
In April of 2022, Carrey declared that Sonic the Hedgehog 2 was the last film he would star in, signalling that his acting career was nearing an end. “Well, I’m retiring. Yeah, probably. I’m being fairly serious,” he said at the time during an interview with Access Hollywood at the time.
When pressed about whether he was being serious or not, the comedian replied, “It depends. It depends. You know, if the angles bring some sort of, you know, script that’s, you know, written in gold ink that says to me that it’s going to be really important for people to see, I might continue down the road, but I’m taking a break.”
“I really like my quiet life, and I really like putting paint on canvas, and I really love my spiritual life, and I feel like — and this is something you might never hear another celebrity say, as long as time exists — I have enough. I’ve done enough. I am enough,” Carrey said.
[Editor’s note: some mild spoilers about Sonic the hedgehog 2 may follow.]
At the end of Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Dr. Robotnik is seen falling to his demise after a battle with the film’s titular hero. The after credits scene also gave audiences a look at Shadow the Hedgehog, a character that could’ve possibly replaced Dr. Robotnik as Sonic’s new nemesis.
This wasn’t the first time Carrey had taken a long break from acting. Before he was cast as Dr. Robotnik for 2020’s Sonic the Hedgehog, the comedian’s latest role was his reprisal of Lloyd Christmas for the Dumb & Dumber sequel in 2014.
At the time, the decision to take a break was motivated by the amount of on-screen violence in Kick-Ass 2 — where Carrey played Colonel Stars and Stripes —following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings in 2013, just a few weeks after the movie released.
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“I did Kick-Ass 2 a month b4 Sandy Hook and now in all good conscience I cannot support that level of violence,” said the gun-control advocate actor. “My apologies to others involve[d] with the film. I am not ashamed of it but recent events have caused a change in my heart.”
Interestingly, in 2022 Carrey also made the decision to quit X (formerly known as Twitter), after the social media platform was acquired by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, joining other left-leaning celebrities who left en masse for disagreeing with the magnate’s political views.
“I’m leaving Twitter, but 1st here’s a cartoon I made with my friend Jimmy Hayward,” the actor said, as he went on to offer details about his new painting.
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 spin-dashes into theaters on the 20th of December.