Sonic 3 director shares first concept art from the movie featuring Shadow and Maria – and our hearts are already breaking

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 director Jeff Fowler has unveiled the first original concept art for the upcoming threequel – and it involves Shadow and Maria.

As you can see below, the artwork sees Gerald Robotnik's granddaughter Maria and Shadow coming face to face, with the latter in a giant test tube.

"Our #SonicMovie3 journey began here... this was the FIRST piece of concept art we created for the film," Fowler wrote on Twitter. "The story of Shadow & Maria is one of the most important in the entire Sonic Universe and we knew we had to make it GREAT"

While we won't head into spoiler territory here, it's likely that Sonic 3 will play with our emotions if it mirrors the events of 2001's Sonic Adventure 2 (which the threequel is already taking heavily from and appears to be loosely adapting).

Notice, too, the slightly rounder eyes on Shadow. It's a design choice that is seemingly reflected in the finished version; it appears that Shadow is more friendly and Sonic-like in appearance when around Maria – and their tragic history would indicate why he's now turned into a trash-talking, gun-toting hedgehog.

It's unclear how much Maria will factor into the movie itself but her grandfather, Gerald, is going to play a considerable role in Sonic 3.

Speaking to SFX, Jeff Fowler said Jim Carrey (who is pulling double duty as both Robotniks) even contributed to Gerald's design.

"For him to create a whole new character within the world was certainly an exciting opportunity, and he just went all in," Fowler revealed. "No detail was too small. He helped design the prosthetics and everything. Talking about things to wrap your head around, having made three films with Jim Carrey, that’s a real mindbender."

Sonic 3 stars Ben Schwartz, Keanu Reeves, Jim Carrey, Idris Elba, James Marsden, Krysten Ritter, Tika Sumpter, and Colleen O'Shaughnessey. It's set to hit cinemas on December 20 in the US and December 21 in the UK.

For more, check out the upcoming video game movies racing your way very soon.