Interview: Colleen O'Shaughnessey on Tails finding confidence in Sonic 3

Colleen O'Shaughnessey wants Miles ‘Tails’ Prower to get his own spin-off show, and I think that’s just what the character needs.

For years now Tails has been Sonic The Hedgehog’s trusty sidekick, mechanic, and “guy in the chair,” but recently the character has really come into their own.

Tails latest adventure is in Sonic The Hedgehog 3, where he’s a vital member of the newly formed Team Sonic

Recently I spoke with Colleen O'Shaughnessey, who’s voiced Tails for over 10 years in the video games, TV series and the live-action Paramount films, and is keen to continue her work with the character for many years to come.

In the films, Colleen really gets to explore Tails as a character and who he is, which has been quite a journey for the actor.

“I love to see his growth,” Colleen enthuses. “He's really coming into his own. He's more confident. He has all of his gadgets. They're working more efficiently … it's a really, really beautiful thing to see him come into his own and be more confident and part of the team and part of the family, and finding his place.”

Obviously, a wrench has been thrown into the works in this film with Shadow. I can’t help but ask if Colleen has seen the many compilations online of all the times Shadow has beaten up tails.

“Yes, I've seen those. Oh my gosh, yes,” she replies.

And is Tails ever going to get his own back, and beat Shadow for once?

“That's an excellent question,” says Colleen. “I mean, hopefully soon, you know. I feel like he hits back in different ways. He uses his smarts and his tech to fight back … he's no Knuckles, let's just be honest.”

Speaking of Knuckles, he had his very own spin-off show recently. No huge surprise to learn Colleen would love Tails to get a similar shot at his own show.

“Oh, absolutely!You wouldn't have to ask me twice for sure. I would love, love, love to see what they would do with the Tails spin off.”

Having appeared in all three Sonic movies (if we include the first one’s post-credits), what better way to end our chat with Colleen than by asking for some of her favourite memories from the trilogy?

“Oh, gosh, there's so many favorites,” she tells me. Like, first of all, when the first movie came out, people would send me videos of their theaters exploding with excitement that Tails was coming.

“And then with the second movie, I got to work with Ben, who was just lovely. Such a great actor. He's so funny. It was such a wonderful experience to get to bounce things back and forth with him. And then, you know, the third movie, all of the extra stuff that Tails got to do, it's all just been a dream, like dreams coming true all over the place.”

It was great speaking to Colleen, and it’s been great seeing Tails have a larger role to play than just Sonic’s sidekick. Hopefully the character continues to grow whether it be through a Knuckles-esque Paramount+ show or another spin-off game, we haven’t seen one of those in a while.