Jim Carrey Announces He Will Retire from Acting after Sonic 2

It will be sad news to his legion of fans and those who fondly remember a mid-90s string of comedy classics, but actor Jim Carrey says he’s about ready to ride off into the sunset in pursuit of the “quiet life.” Speaking with Access Hollywood, Carrey casually announced that he would be retiring from acting following the April 8, 2022 release of Sonic the Hedgehog 2, in which he reprises his role as antagonist Dr. Robotnik. The only thing that might potentially bring him back into the fold? The perfect project, which might include recent interest in Carrey appearing in a planned Dolly Parton biopic, after Dolly herself expressed interest.

Regardless, on the subject of his retirement, Carry said the following in the interview: “Well, I’m retiring. Yeah, probably. I’m being fairly serious. It depends, if the angels bring some sort of script that’s written in gold ink that says to me that it’s going to be really important for people to see, I might continue down the road but I’m taking a break.”

Carrey continued, justifying the decision: “I really like my quiet life and I really like putting paint on canvas and I really love my spiritual life and I feel like, and this is something you might never hear another celebrity say as long as time exists – I have enough. I’ve done enough. I am enough.”

Well, that certainly does sound like a rather centered and healthy mindset—Carrey is right that one infrequently hears iconic actors simply say “I have enough.” And Carrey’s career has no doubt been full of highlights, since his early days on In Living Color, through his comedy boom period in the 1990s, when he starred in the likes of Ace Ventura and The Mask, to his more dramatic era, which included films like The Truman Show, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, or I Love You Phillip Morris. He has done pretty much everything there is for a performer to do in this industry.

With that said, one wonders if the allure of Dolly might be too much to resist. The music icon recently stated that she’d be interested to see Carrey take on the role of Porter Wagoner, her longtime musical partner. Carrey, meanwhile, added that he would “always speak to Dolly” in his interview, which you can see below. So perhaps there’s hope still that Carrey will change his mind, but we should probably be prepared to not see the actor for a while, following the release of Sonic 2.