Knuckles looked stressed out at Idris Elba’s Knuckles premiere

Knuckles, Paramount Plus’ episodic spinoff of the Sonic movies, is gliding under the radar. Between Fallout commanding all of the video-games-can-actually-make-for-good-TV discourse and news that Keanu Reeves will voice Shadow in the third Sonic movie due out in December, it would be easy for even the most dedicated Sega buff to forget that an entire six-episode series starring the Master Emerald guardian is dropping next week.

One person who has not forgotten: Knuckles, who may be feeling the pressure if his vibe on the echidna-red premiere carpet is any indication.

Knuckles arrived to the Knuckles premiere in London with the glow of a newly minted star. While he was the breakout of 2022’s Sonic the Hedgehog 2, the spinoff puts his name right in the title and solidifies him as a key player of any and all future iterations of the franchise. Everyone wanted a piece of Knuckles at the premiere on Tuesday night.

Despite being an absolute unit, it didn’t take long before established stars entered the arena and challenged Knuckles on his home turf. Cast members Idris Elba, Adam Pally, Rory McCann and Kid Cudi all showed up, ready to soak up the spotlight. Them’s the breaks in Hollywood, baby.

The carpet quickly devolved as the Knuckles cast turned into knuckleheads. Their leading man didn’t look thrilled.

Knuckles tried to keep his cool throughout the night, but even Elba and Pally could see his frazzled quills. One assumes Knuckles went through substantial media training before stepping out on the carpet for his own show, but it didn’t kick in on Tuesday night.

When his fellow actors rushed off to take their seats for the premiere, Paramount wrangled Knuckles for one more photo op — an act of premiere-night redemption. Here he is with footballers Cloé Lacasse, Sabrina D’Angelo, Emily Fox and Amanda Ilestedt for some reason. He looks thrilled.

Knuckles shouldn’t worry — his TV show, which premieres on April 26, is actually pretty good (more on that later). But his walk on the Knuckles red carpet was fraught. We pray that this is not another case of young talent thrust into the unforgiving glitz and glamour of superstardom, where talent can vanish in an instant. Knuckles, if you are out there: We support you, we believe in you, we hope you have fun.