It's not clear who exactly was asking for it, but Paramount Pictures is bringing us a live-action Sonic the Hedgehog movie this winter. So far, the studio has given potential viewers sneak peeks at the speedrunning rodent, but not yet a full reveal of the furry blue character. Now, it seems a better look at Sonic has been leaked by the advertising agency Hamagami / Carroll, Inc., in a series of images on their official website touting the character's design. Describing Sonic as "irreverent and sarcastic" as well as "chill and likable," the pictures reveal Sonic in various poses: holding a golden ring, waving his index finger, and running through a giant hoop.

Although the images have since been removed, they were accompanied with an explanation while the pictures were live. "You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone in the world who isn't familiar with SEGA's beloved IP, Sonic the Hedgehog," the statement read. Calling the design a "new modern take on the brand without abandoning its core essence," the live-action Sonic maintains some qualities of the original video game version of the animal, while adopting the quirky look you'd expect from a "realistic" talking blue hedgehog. While we can all agree that his appearance is rather interesting in one way or another, the design may be described as "cute" by some and "freaky" by others.

Directed by Jeff Fowler in his directorial debut, the Sonic the Hedgehog live-action movie was written by Patrick Casey, Josh Miller, and Oren Uziel. The story was adapted from a treatment by Van Robichaux and Evan Susser. Legendary actor Jim Carrey will provide the voice of Sonic's arch-nemesis Dr. Robotnik, with Ben Schwartz voicing the titular hedgehog. James Marsden will be voicing Tom Wachowski, with Tika Sumpter, Adam Pally, and Neal McDonough also starring. The story will focus on a small-town sheriff (Marsden) teaming up with Sonic to take on the evil doctor, who also appeared in the original video games as the final boss.

This new Sonic the Hedgehog isn't the only blue character from an upcoming live-action adaptation to take people off guard. Recently, Will Smith's blue Genie from the live-action Aladdin remake was met with criticism after the character was unveiled. While Disney and Smith are hoping viewers will wait until seeing the movie before passing judgement, it seems some filmgoers are of the opinion that not every cartoon character can be successfully adapted into a live-action movie. As with Aladdin, however, Sonic the Hedgehog deserves its chance to have viewers see more before offering too much criticism on his appearance, and it's probably best to just wait and see how it all turns out.

The Sonic the Hedgehog movie is set to premiere in theaters on Nov. 8, 2019. We'll see just how closely the final version of the movie will resemble this live-action Sonic, and if it will be quite as freaky. In any case, the movie is likely to be rather bizarre, and will probably stand out as one of the more unique video game adaptations if nothing else. This information comes to us from Polygon.