With Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, one of the few complaints was the lack of an iconic villain. Given its flashy acting and strong voice acting, a strong villain could’ve given the film iconic status.
Now, the filmmakers will look to address that issue as the screenwriter and director Jeff Rowe confirms they’ll be potentially bringing in the most iconic TMNT villain, The Shredder.
Speaking to Collider, Rowe opens up about what they’ll look to do with the sequel and goes as far as saying that Shredder will be their Joker.
The filmmaker reveals, “That is exactly what I am trying to figure out and what my next meeting will be about. That is what we are in the thick of now.” He adds, “Shredder is just a great character. He’s an iconic, classic, loved character. He’s like the Joker. You know who he is, even if you’re not a fan of the source material.”
The film will focus more on the villain than the first film. Rowe tells the outlet, “I think we definitely wanna do a villain-forward film. We’re currently trying to make decisions about that, but those decisions for us as filmmakers are always going to come from the place of what tells the best story, specifically about our main characters, the Turtles.”
The sequel has yet to begin production, so there’s no release date as of yet.
After years of being sheltered from the human world, the Turtle brothers set out to win the hearts of New Yorkers and be accepted as normal teenagers through heroic acts. Their new friend April O’Neil helps them take on a notorious crime syndicate, but they soon get in over their heads when an army of mutants is unleashed upon them.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem stars the voices of Nicolas Cantu (The Walking Dead: World Beyond) as Leonardo, Brady Noon (The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers) as Raphael, Shamon Brown Jr. (The Chi) as Michelangelo, and Micah Abbey (Cousins for Life) as Donatello, Jackie Chan (Rush Hour) as Splinter, Ayo Edebiri (The Bear) as April O’Neil, Seth Rogen (The Fablemans) as Bebop, John Cena (Peacemaker) as Rocksteady, Giancarlo Esposito (The Mandalorian) as Baxter Stockman, Hannibal Buress (Broad City) as Genghis Frog, Rose Byrne (Physical) as Leatherhead, Ice Cube (21 Jump Street) as Superfly, Natasia Demetriou (What We Do in the Shadows) as Wingnut, Post Malone as Ray Fillet, Paul Rudd (Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania) as Mondo Gecko and Maya Rudolph (Disenchanted) as Cynthia Utrom.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is now streaming on Paramount+ in the United States.
Originally published November 5, 2023. Updated November 6, 2023.
