Sonic Frontiers Cast Would Come Back For A Potential Sequel

When Sonic Frontiers —which took the franchise in a new, ‘open-zone’ direction—released in November 2022, it received mixed reviews from critics and fans alike. Our reviewer Rubi Khan rated it more favourably, however, thinking that it “is one of the best 3D Sonic titles released in recent memory”.

Last week, the cast of Sonic Frontiers , namely Roger Craig Smith (the voice of Sonic, Chris Redfield , Ezio Auditore da Firenze and many, many more), Colleen O’Shaughnessey (the voice of Tails, Jazz Fentom, Ino Yamanaka , etc.), Dave B. Mitchell (the voice of Knuckles, Hephaestus and Dyne amongst others) and Ryan Bartley (the voice of Sage, Rei Ayanami , Pompompururin, to name only a few) joined MCM Comic Con London to talk everything ‘Blue Blur’ and friends. As part of a group interview, the quartet were asked about appearing in a potential Frontiers sequel, the ever-expanding movie franchise and more:

To start things off, what made each of you want to get into voice acting in the first place and what were your first ever roles?

Colleen O’Shaughnessey : So, I was doing musical theater at the University of Michigan and I wasn’t going to do more musical theater because I had burnout…but I always just did voices. And, someone overheard me doing one, and they came, and they were like: “You need to do voice-over!” And that was it for me! Then, I moved to Los Angeles and bugged people until they let me do it. My very first paying job was a reporter Barbie book where you hit the button and it goes: “It’s fun to be a reporter!” That was my very first, official, voice-over job.

Ryan Bartley : The reason I wanted to do voice-over is because I love the freedom…I like that I can be anyone and anything, you know? I like the fantasy element…getting to play in different worlds or different planets. It’s just limitless. I also always really loved cartoons as a kid – who didn’t? And, yeah, I have been doing voice-over since I was a kid…I started on Radio Disney and then it was this long, long slog until I was able to get into animation and that’s always been the dream: to do cartoons. Which is cool because Sonic is a very cartoon-y franchise.

Dave B. Mitchell : Similarly, I also was a child working for Radio Disney…

Ryan Bartley : Were you?!

Dave B. Mitchell : No! [laughs] I was not, no! I grew up as a musician and an actor and always had a good ear for accents, dialects and characters. So, I had the realization one day that: “oh, this is a thing…I can do this!” And, if you talk to probably most voice actors, you’ll find that a lot of us have a music background. Because it’s a sonic art…no pun intended!

But, we’re creating art with sound so…we talk in musical terms, we get directions in musical terms. So, being able to sort of apply those two things together, those two different sorts of creativities to create different things was really appealing. And, I just busted my butt for a lot of years…worked really hard…and here we are.

Roger Craig Smith : What happened in my 20s was that I was a stand-up comic and nobody was asking about my comedy but they kept saying: “you have a radio voice…you should really look into that!” And, I went and did it…literally my first gig was getting 75$ for doing a dialysis nurse training video! And, I had such fun doing it. Plus, it paid! Unlike stand-up comedy! [laughs] Ever since, I’ve never looked back.

So, Sonic Frontiers is a departure from previous Sonic games in that, tonally, it was almost depressing. How did you approach this change as your characters?

Roger Craig Smith: For Sonic, it made perfectly good sense since the stakes were much higher. Kudos to SEGA for even taking this risk because it was such a departure from what they had been doing since like 2010…and I thought it worked so well.

Would you return if there was a Sonic Frontiers 2 and, if so, what would you like to see from your characters next?

Colleen O’Shaughnessey : I think we all would say yes! [laughs]

Dave B. Mitchell : Yeah, absolutely!

Roger Craig Smith: As voice acto rs, it’s like: ” Would you like to work again?” Yes! Yes, please!

Ryan Bartley : I mean, I think it would be cool to see Sage become even more human. I’m sure she has lots of the world to explore and friends of Sonic to meet…that would be amazing. And seeing her develop would be really, really beautiful. I’d love that.

Question for Colleen: You’ve had the privilege of being a part of the film franchise so how do you feel about the news that Keanu Reeves is joining the as Shadow and that Jim Carrey is reprising his role as Dr. Robotnik ?

Colleen O’Shaughnessey : I was so excited to hear that Jim was coming back because he does a really beautiful job. About being part of the movie franchise…I don’t even know what to say! It still feels surreal…I’m so grateful and honoured to be part of it. It’s a beautiful, beautiful thing, and I can’t wait for you all to see the third one. I got to read the whole script—I know stuff, ha! [laughs] But I can’t say anything!

Can you talk about Keanu joining as Shadow, specifically?

Colleen : I can’t! [laughs] I’m so sorry—I’m not allowed to comment in any way, shape or form. I was sent a very specific email! [laughs]

One of the main ways fans love to celebrate this franchise is with an abundance of memes. Do each of you have a favorite meme or in-joke from Sonic ?

Roger Craig Smith : I actually have been purposely not looking for memes because some of the memes I’ve seen involving Sonic are…not safe for work. I avoid the memes as best I can! [laughs]

Dave B. Mitchell : Some of my experience with memes is when fans come up and want me to reenact them, and they have to show them to me sometimes because I have no idea what they are!

Roger Craig Smith : Oh, never let them show you! [laughs]

Ryan Bartley : There’s one I like that’s a parent playing in the pool with their kid and another kid is like: “aaah!” And, it’s Eggman playing with Sage but then there’s another kid being ignored!

Roger Craig Smith : I would say Sanic …Sanic is one of the best things that’s ever happened! That’s a safe meme. Or, at the very least, it feels like it…

Besides voice acting, do you have some kind of creative input and, also, some role in brand safety and being ambassadors for the franchise?

Colleen O’Shaughnessey : As far as my input…I don’t feel qualified to contribute in that way. With that being said, when we worked on Sonic Boom and, also with the movies, they were very open to improvisation. Believe me, what’s there on the page is already great, but when they allow you the freedom to work off each other and have fun with it…that’s pretty cool!

Roger Craig Smith : It’s not lost on me how incredible it is that when people think of gaming they think of Mario , Sonic, Pac-Man …it’s a small list [of characters] that become iconic. It’s incredible to be a part of something so massive…of something that has such global recognition and impact. It’s an interesting thing to kind of dance around it: on one level, you’re sort of a human being who’s trying to navigate their own little life and then, you get to be part of this thing that represents something to so many people…it’s incredible! To say it’s an honour just doesn’t do it justice.

Sonic Frontiers is out now on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and Series X and S, Steam and the Epic Game Store.