Jim Carrey Returning for "Sonic the Hedgehog 3"

Jim Carrey is coming out of retirement to reprise his role as the mad scientist with the formidable facial hair, Dr. Robotnik, in “Sonic the Hedgehog 3.”

The veteran actor and comedian, 62, announced in 2022 that he was retiring from acting, claiming that "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" would be his final movie.

In the final scene of the sequel, Dr Robotnik tumbled to the ground from a giant robot, a fall that was potentially fatal. However, it was revealed in the film’s post-credit scene that his body was never discovered.

On Friday, Carrey’s return was teased on social media with the “Sonic” filmmakers releasing a teaser that included Dr. Robotnik’s evil laugh.

The post also offered a new look at Shadow the Hedgehog.

The appearance of Shadow in the third installment comes as the character was teased in the mid-credits scene in "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" revealing that the installment will feature more classic characters.

“You all thought I was gone, but I’ve just been underground. What you’ve seen from is only a #shadow of things to come,” reads the post on X.

"Sonic the Hedgehog" is an action comedy movie based on the video game franchise published by Sega. 

Jeff Fowler, who oversaw the first two movies, is returning as the director on the latest sequel.

Neal H. Moritz, Toby Ascher, Toru Nakahara and Hitoshi Okuno will produce the threequel.

The first movie, which was released in 2020, was a box office hit bringing in more than $319 million worldwide. 

A sequel would follow in 2022 that added Idris Elba voicing Knuckles the Echidna and Colleen O’Shaughnessey voicing Miles “Trails” Prower, Sonic’s yellow-orange fox sidekick. 

The follow-up movie brought in $405 million at the worldwide box office.

Before the sequel had officially been released, a third movie had already been greenlit. Paramount Pictures and Sega also developed a spinoff TV series revolving around Knuckles with Elba confirmed to reprise his role.

The combined global box office for “Sonic the Hedgehog” and “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” stands at $870.8 million, hence the enthusiasm of Paramount, the studio behind the video game adaptations, for another installment in the franchise. 

"Sonic the Hedgehog 3" races into theatres on December 20.