‘Westworld’ star James Marsden has been cast in the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog movie, an adaptation of the classic video game, it has been confirmed.

The 44 year old American actor has been tapped for a lead role in Paramount’s forthcoming live action / animation hybrid movie of the beloved SEGA video game character. The studio had landed the movie rights to the game in 2017, and quickly secured the services of first-time feature director Jeff Fowler.

Neal H. Moritz, who recently signed a first-look deal with Paramount, is producing the project under his Original Film company, while Deadpool director Tim Miller is to serve as executive producer along with Toby Ascher.

James Marsden'Westworld's James Marsden is to star in 'Sonic the Hedgehog'

Marsden broke into the mainstream with the role of Scott Summers (Cyclops) in the 2000 film X-Man and its subsequent sequels, and currently stars as Teddy Flood on HBO’s sci-fi hit ‘Westworld’. He beat out much-reported competition from Paul Rudd for the role, according to Variety.

His role as a cop who befriends the speedy blue hedgehog hero will be rendered partly through CGI, and the results will be seen on November 15th, 2019. It’s the first time that the game has ever been adapted for the big screen.

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SEGA originally rolled out Sonic the Hedgehog as a character to rival Nintendo’s Mario back in 1991, and the game and its various descendants across packaged games and digital versions have sold more than 360 million copies around the world.

The classic original features the titular hero on a quest to defeat the evil Doctor Robotnik, a scientist who has imprisoned animals in robots and stolen magical Chaos Emeralds.

While movie adaptations of video games don’t have a particularly stellar history – the 1993 Super Mario Bros. film and the following year’s Street Fighter made these kinds of thing a toxic undertaking for studios, directors and actors alike – fingers are crossed for Sonic fans that this can be made a success.

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