In a bizarre sequence of events, Roger Craig Smith is returning to voice Sonic the Hedgehog after only 4 months away from the role.

Smith originally announced that he was leaving the role on January 28th 2021 after 10 years of being the voice of Sonic. We can only speculate why Smith stepped down from the role in January and why he has now returned to it, but it could well be a simple case of his contract expiring and SEGA not initially renewing it until now.

Sonic fans will have recognised Smith’s narration in yesterday’s ‘Unstoppable’ video, made to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. A Sonic Central event will take place tomorrow May 27th 2021 at 5pm UK time to reveal “upcoming projects, partnerships, and events to celebrate Sonic’s 30th anniversary”.

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Welp, 10 years was an amazing run.
Onward to new zones!

Much love to the fans who’ve been so kind.💙

It’s been an honor.
🦔 pic.twitter.com/7Rn9PVA92m

— Roger Craig Smith (@RogerCraigSmith) January 28, 2021

Roger Craig Smith’s tenure voicing SEGA’s beloved mascot Sonic the Hedgehog has come to a somewhat abrupt end, as he’s announced through Twitter that after 10 years, he’s moving “onward to new zones.”

It’s certainly a surprise; for the past decade, Smith’s voice has become synonymous with the hedgehog for an entire generation of young fans. The older generations couldn’t seem to agree, but for our money he was probably the most consistently solid English voice Sonic’s had to date.

Should this mean we won’t be hearing Smith in the next Sonic game, it’d mean his final role as Sonic wasn’t actually a Sonic game; he recently voiced the blue blur in Puyo Puyo Tetris 2, as part of a recent content update.

It goes without saying, but we wish Smith all the best in whatever’s next for him. For many Sonic fans, now the question is – who’s next? Unsurprisingly, Ben Schwartz is a name popping up quite a lot on Twitter right now, after his stellar perfomance as Sonic’s movie counterpart – but only time will tell.

Liam Ashcroft

When Tracker isn’t playing SEGA games, he’s talking about SEGA games. Or drawing about SEGA games. Or all of the above. You can also catch him over on Twitter.

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