How Adam Pally & Idris Elba Collaborated on ‘Knuckles’ — Without Ever Meeting (VIDEO)
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Buddy comedies don’t get much stranger or sillier than Knuckles, Paramount+‘s terrifically fun expansion of the Sonic the Hedgehog film universe. In the six-part event, world-traveling style icon and Happy Endings icon Adam Pally reprises his role as Wade Whipple from the films, along with Idris Elba, who returns as the voice of Sonic’s foe-turned-ally Knuckles. But since Elba’s alter-ego is all CGI, it was up to Pally—once again proving his prowess as a comic leading man—to unleash his inner action star for the series.
“I was so happy to do it,” he admits of the stunt work required of his character, reflexively tossing in some self-deprecation, in the video above. “A man of my normal build and size doesn’t usually get to do wire work, and so it was really thrilling to get all the resources that you imagine the Marvel people get. But to use that power for comedy was really thrilling and fun. I felt like I was given the keys to a Porsche.”
Paramount+
Introduced in 2022’s Sonic the Hedgehog 2, the titular battle-ready alien Echidna was last seen making a pact with Sonic (voiced by Parks and Rec scene-stealer Ben Schwartz) and his pal Tails to work together to protect the universe from their suburban hood of Green Hills. Now living with local vet Maddie Wachowski (Tika Sumpter, also back from the films) and bored with his domestication, the hilariously aggro Knuckles finds an outlet for his machismo by agreeing to mentor the town’s dimwitted deputy Wade in the ways of his warrior kin.
“I think Wade goes through a hero’s journey [and] I think Knuckles goes through a hero’s journey,” continues Pally. “It’s like Knuckles is finding his own place in the world, and it’s kind of like ‘Echidna versus himself’ in a lot of ways, to get Joseph Campbell on you. And I think Wade is really learning more of his potential… It almost has a little bit of when Luke goes to train with Yoda.” (God love this guy’s geek cred.)
How or why the duo wind up working together is best to be discovered by watching, so we won’t spoil that. But we can confirm that rapper Scott “Kid Cudi” Mescudi is on hand to cause a lot of trouble, that the show works as a setup for the upcoming Sonic 3 feature, and that fans should expect to see a few more familiar faces pop up along the way. Hopefully they remembered Pally a bit more than his most frequent scene partner, with whom he actually never even worked with (Pally shot his live-action bits solo, then Elba recorded his lines as the computer-generated Knuckles).
“Because I improvised a little, he was able to go in and kind of adjust what he did with me, which was really, again, a super cool way to do it,” Pally notes with a laugh. “The only other time I’ve met him was at the Sonic 2 premiere, where I do believe he thought I was Ben Schwartz…but that happens a lot, especially in public situations where we’re both there.”
Knuckles, Series Premiere, April 26, Paramount+
