A Conversation With Sonic 3’s Tails, Colleen O’Shaughnessey

io9: What was the process like to find this version of Tails’ voice?

O’Shaughnessey: When I approached Tails, I approached him the same way, whether it’s a game or the show or the films, but this is such a grander scale. And we just talked about it being on a different—he finds himself in different circumstances. So I guess coming from more of a serious standpoint with him because the stakes are higher there, it’s not like, “Oh, it’s a racing game.” “We gotta go.” “Come on, let’s go.” All of that is like, it’s heightened and energetic and all that, but it’s still, it’s fun.

And not that this isn’t fun, but there are dangerous situations happening. So it’s more grounded. It’s more serious. It’s more cinematic, for sure. But what I think was so beautiful [about] this transition was that we had just done Sonic Frontiers right before I started recording for the second movie. And Sonic Frontiers is a much more serious game, and there’s a lot more dialogue and there’s a lot higher stakes; [it’s the] same kind of thing. So I [was] prepped and ready, truly, because I had just done Sonic Frontiers that was just such a departure from any of the previous games.

io9: Speaking of going from silly to sort of more darker,  I was really happy that they did keep some of the darker elements from Sonic Adventure 2 in the film and really put Team Sonic under a lot of more stressful situations. The movie starts and they’re like a band of brothers and they’re having fun and then, things get very serious very fast. What was it like stepping into that with Tails? I love how each brother represents a different type of kid. 

O’Shaughnessey: Yeah, everybody has their role. And he was so cool under pressure. There’s a lot of pressure and a couple of points it’s down to him because he’s got the schematics, he’s got the plan, and he’s sort of trying to keep the plan together. And I feel like his cool under pressure has really stepped up for sure.  He’s got some important stuff to do and he jumps in and saves the day a number of times, which is just awesome. 

io9: Yes, I loved it. He gets so brave, which is so great. To turn in a bit more on your career, at io9 we love talking about first fandoms. What games, movies, or books in genre really inspired your career path, and how did that lead to where you are today?

O’Shaughnessey: Anything animated as a kid, I watched as much as my mom would allow me to watch—because [you] can’t watch TV all day, but if I could have, I would have. When I was a kid, we didn’t have access to all of it at all times. I was an avid watcher of cartoons and the Wonderful World of Disney and The Muppets and all of those things. I literally would run around my house being all of these characters. I would be Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, to Miss Piggy and Kermit, to all of the Super Friends. Oh my gosh, I loved all the Super Friends. Pretty much, pick a genre and I probably was a fan of it and ran around my house doing all of those characters.

io9: What was the first voice you realized or like that your family realized that you could do very well? 

O’Shaughnessey: I did Fozzie Bear and, for some reason, Tigger from [Winnie the Pooh]. I just did it and I don’t know where it came from, but I would look at a baby or an animal and just give them a voice. Whatever expression they had on their face, I would just give them like a whole monologue of things that I thought that they were saying. I so wanted animals to be able to talk. So I gave them voices. But I feel like the Muppets were profound in my developing of this very silly skill that I have.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is in theaters now.