Idris Elba plays Knuckles the Echidna in Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Ian Gavan/Getty Images; Paramount Pictures/Sega of America
Idris Elba plays Knuckles the Echidna in Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
The actor said his voice for the character of his “Thor” character was similar to Heimdall.
He said he “didn’t consciously want to sound like Heimdall” but they were “probably” very similar.
Idris Elba said there were some unintended similarities between his voice for Knuckles in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and his Thor character Heimdall.
The actor spoke to the New York Times about developing his character for the Sonic the Hedgehog sequel. Knuckles, a character from the video game series who debuts in the film, is an echidna warrior who associates with Jim Carrey’s Dr. Robotnik teams up to pursue Sonic (voiced by Ben Schwartz) and a force known as Master Emerald.
According to the actor, his knuckles bear a certain resemblance to his character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Heimdall, the guardian of Asgard’s Bifrost Bridge in the Thor movies.
“There’s a sense of symmetry between those two voices,” Elba told the New York Times. “Look, I have a deep voice and I could just use my voice for what it is. I deliberately didn’t want to sound too much like Heimdall. But probably, yes, they sound exactly the same.”
The first preview of Knuckles’ voice came when he told ScreenRant in October 2021 that while he couldn’t say much about the character, he definitely wasn’t trying to play the character “sexy.” Elba told the Times that his first instinct was to try to play the character with a “squeaky voice” for humor. However, he said it was quickly closed.
Rather, as the actor told The New York Times, Knuckles’ origins helped him develop the character’s voice.
“He is a warrior of his tribe and English is not their first language,” said Elba. “He doesn’t have the same sense of humor as Sonic. He’s very dry and factual and he uses English to get his point across and move on. He has no time for niceties. We used that construct to develop how he sounds.”
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