WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Sonic the Hedgehog, in theaters now
Despite echidnas being seen in the first few minutes of the film, longtime Sonic the Hedgehog supporting character Knuckles the Echidna was nowhere to be seen in director Jeff Fowler's recently released film adaptation. However, director Fowler does have an explanation as to why the red-colored echidna wasn't in the movie, citing a focus on Sonic and Dr. Robotnik's adversity without having to throw in other characters.
In an interview with ComicBook.com, Fowler delved more into why Knuckles was excluded from the movie, saying he wanted to get the first movie right, specifically referring to Sonic himself, his backstory and his relationship with Robotnik.
"For this first film, we really were just looking at the 1991 game and just see where it all started and just keep it simple," Fowler explained. "Just really try to nail Sonic and Robotnik and just set up their rivalry because you don't... I mean, I love... There's a lot of great characters in the Sonic universe, but it's the most important thing is just to get Sonic set up and just tell a little bit of an origin story with him, and just do it in a way that really makes everyone fall in love with him as a character and just be rooting for more. And then, if all that goes well, then we can kind of open it up and bring in some of these other characters that fans know and love. And yeah, I mean, no one's more excited than me to have that opportunity."
Jeff Fowler's Sonic the Hedgehog stars Ben Schwartz as Sonic and Jim Carrey as Dr. Robotnik, with James Marsden, Neal McDonald, Tika Sumpter, Adam Pally and Natasha Rothwell. The film is now in theaters.