There’s been a lot of talk about the Sonic the Hedgehog live-action/CG film that’s set to debut sometime later next year, with a cast that features James Marsden, Tika Sumpter and, much to our surprise, Jim Carrey, who will be portraying Dr. Robotnik/Eggman.

But now the big question is making the rounds -- when will the film enter the production phase? And the answer is quite simple, really. It already has.

A new image has appeared over on content creator SonicWindBlue’s Twitter account, featuring a production team gathered to begin work on the Sonic film. Originally supplied by another user by the name of @el_hedgehog, it doesn’t really show much in the way of hedgehogs. But it is pretty cool to see production has started up.

“We got the very first production image from the Sonic the Hedgehog movie,” the tweet says. You can see it below.

We got the very first production image from the Sonic the Hedgehog Movie. Thanks a lot to @el_hedgehog for the information. Source: https://t.co/9TIiTBSswk pic.twitter.com/G5Xv33kzS0 — SonicWindBlue (@SonicWindBlue) July 12, 2018

It’s unknown exactly what direction the film will be taking from here, but it sounds like that it’s going to be right up the alley of fans, despite the fact that Sonic is portrayed more as a “juvenile delinquent” instead of the heroic ‘hog that we’ve gotten so used to over the years. That said, we’re still interested in seeing which way the film goes. (Plus, to be fair, Carrey’s probably going to be a fantastic Eggman.)

The film features a number of talented folks behind it, including executive producer Tim Miller of Deadpool fame and Fast & Furious producer Jim Moritz. So it’s unlikely that they’re going to “blow it” when it comes to how Sonic should come across. And the cast should have no trouble mixing in with the hedgehog’s shenanigans.

Sonic the Hedgehog is set to hit theaters in late 2019. Can't wait to fulfill your Sonic fix for that long? Sonic Mania Plus drops this Tuesday for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and PC; and Team Sonic Racing debuts later this year on those platforms as well.