In 2022, Logan McPherson, the director of the animated series "Sonic Prime", stated that the show was canon to the games, drawing upon their existing mythology. This would make Sonic Prime the first television series based on the Sonic franchise to be considered canon to the mainline series. Ian Flynn would further support this claim, revealing that he knew when exactly in the series timeline the show took place in, but would not reveal it until after the show ends, while noting that something happens in the show to make it clear that it is indeed canon to the games. In 2024, after the release of Sonic Prime's third and final season, Ian Flynn finally confirmed the show's status in the overall Sonic timeline: aside from taking place sometime after the events of Sonic Advance 3, the show's placement is considered moot due to the ending Spoiler:having the show wipe itself out. In response to complaints regarding this outcome, Flynn claimed that its placement in the canon was intentionally vague, and the show being canon to the games at all was not his decision due to only being involved in the animated series as a consultant. He later claimed that he and other parties had made efforts to flag the show's inconsistencies early on in production, but that many of these efforts were flat out ignored. He noted that there was not an easy way to brush these issues aside, but also made a point that there was an effort to do so.