Does Sonic The Hedgehog 3 take place on Earth? Details explored

Sonic The Hedgehog 3 takes the Blue Blur's story forward as he faces a formidable enemy in the form of Shadow the Hedgehog. The film, based on the popular video game series, hit the screens on December 20, 2024, and has made waves at the global box office, just like the previous installments.

However, the threequel has a different setting than the earlier films. While Sonic The Hedgehog 1 and 2 had characters visiting other planets, Sonic The Hedgehog 3 takes place entirely on Earth.

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Does Sonic The Hedgehog 3 take place on Earth?

Sonic the Hedgehog 3’s entire story happens on Earth. The film is centered around the Robotnik family, who plans to take over Earth using Shadow the Hedgehog and the Eclipse Cannon. Since Shadow’s story is tied to Earth, there is no requirement for the characters to move to other planets.

Instead of expanding the Sonic universe by bringing in new places, the film explores the relationships and backstories of its characters, making it a more personal experience than the previous installments.

Though Sonic the Hedgehog 3 briefly mentions alien worlds, like Sonic’s home planet Mobius, it does not shift the narrative there. In the Sonic universe, characters can travel between worlds easily by using the golden rings, which act like portals.

However, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 only focuses on the Earth’s conflict, which worked well for the film as its grounded approach resonated well with the audience, and the movie became a box office success.

In the games, the narrative features different settings. While earlier games in the series were set on Mobius, they later introduced more Earth-like settings, starting with Sonic Adventure in 1998, where humans and cities became part of the world.

Later games like Sonic Colors and Sonic Forces brought back fantastical locations, focussing less on humans and more on animal characters. Hence, the franchise has always been known for combining elements of Earth with alien worlds.

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Where will Sonic The Hedgehog 4 take place?

Contrary to Sonic The Hedgehog 3, the upcoming fourth installment of the franchise might again focus on alien planets. Though the film’s plot has been kept under wraps, franchise writer Pat Casey revealed the team is willing to base it in a fantastical place. He said in an interview with CBR:

“For Sonic the Hedgehog 3, the story was all about all this military stuff and it was inherently Earthbound. But possibly in the future, we might get out into some more fantastic places.”

He also talked about how the Green Hill Zone, the first level of the platform game, can also make an appearance in the film franchise:

“We almost put a sequence like that into Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and then ended up not having space for it. But we definitely know that there are other worlds and these more fantastical zones, and we would like to see it, so we assume the audience would like to see it as well.”

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 was confirmed to be in development in December 2024 and is expected to be released in 2027. Meanwhile, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 stars Ben Schwartz in the titular role, Keanu Reeves as Shadow the Hedgehog, and Jim Carrey as Dr. Ivo Robotnik and Professor Gerald Robotnik.

The cast also includes James Marsden as Tom Wachowski, Colleen O'Shaughnessey as Miles "Tails" Prower, Idris Elba as Knuckles the Echidna, Tika Sumpter as Maddie Wachowski, Lee Majdoub as Agent Stone, and Krysten Ritter as Director Rockwell.

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