It's official. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is speeding into development. Paramount Pictures and SEGA have confirmed the news this afternoon. The sequel will have Jeff Fowler back behind the camera, along with Pat Casey and Josh Miller writing the script. The cast has yet to be announced, but Jim Carrey has already revealed that he was just getting started with the Doctor Robotnik character and was looking forward to a sequel to fully realize the villain. Now, it looks like he'll get a chance to do so.

According to sources close to the deal, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is in the development stage with no production start date on the horizon. This makes sense since most of the entertainment business is still on hold at the moment. Paramount is well aware of that after the first installment's theatrical run was cut short. However, in the brief amount of time the movie was in theaters, it was able to become the highest grossing video game movie of all time domestically. It would have more than likely gone on to beat out Detective Pikachu for the global record had things gone down differently.

Along with the continuing evolution, or devolution, of Jim Carrey's Doctor Robotnik, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 will also fully introduce Sonic's old buddy Tails, who was briefly featured in the first installment. Jeff Fowler, who made his feature directorial debut with the first movie is looking forward to bringing a lot of characters to the sequel. "There's so many more great characters to bring in and just more stories to tell," the director teased recently. More than anything, Fowler was very much looking forward to being able to make a return to the franchise, much like Carrey.

This is a major change from this time last year when many assumed that Sonic the Hedgehog was going to come out and bomb. Another victim of the video game movie curse was prematurely called out after the first design became public. Video game fans hoped that the first look was from unofficial leaks, but the debut trailer proved that the design was something that people felt very strongly about. So, Paramount went back to the drawing board, pushing the movie back at the same time.

Paramount probably had no idea that the first installment was going to do as well as it did after the intense backlash it received. However, that's all a distant memory now, which seems like it was a decade ago. Neal H. Moritz, Toby Ascher and Toru Nakahara are producing Sonic the Hedgehog 2, while Hajime Satomi, Haruki Satomi and Tim Miller are executive producing. Hopefully we'll get a cast announcement in the coming months, along with a production start. For now, we'll just have to be patient and see what Jeff Fowler and crew have up their sleeves for the next adventure. Variety was the first to announce Sonic the Hedgehog 2.