With less than a month left until the release of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, director Jeff Rowe has teased the future appearance of the turtle’s archenemy Shredder in potential sequels.
Since the franchise’s creation in the 1980s, Shredder has been the main enemy of the Ninja Turtles as he leads the villainous Foot Clan in various plots for world domination. In most iterations, he has a personal connection with the turtle’s mentor and surrogate father Splinter, who is voiced by Jackie Chan in the film. Instead of facing off against Shredder and his Foot Clan in Mutant Mayhem, the turtles have to fight a large collection of mutants who want to rid the world of humanity.
In an interview with SFX Magazine, Rowe suggested they would take an approach similar to The Dark Knight by saving the archnemesis for a bigger story after telling the turtle’s origin. “We’ll Dark Knight it,” Rowe said to SFX. “When you’ve grown and you’ve become confident as a teenager, to then go up against a foe that is three times scarier than anything you’ve ever seen before, that’s interesting and dramatic.” Rowe also added he would be “100%” down to direct a sequel should one get greenlit.
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 will be released on August 2nd.
Ricky Church – Follow me on Twitter for more movie news and nerd talk.
Originally published July 10, 2023. Updated July 13, 2023.
