A few months ago, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fans received both good news and bad news. The good news was that in addition to Mutant Mayhem 2 still being on track for a fall 2027 release, a new live-action TMNT movie is dated for late 2028. The bad news was that the film adaptation of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin one of the more adult-skewing TMNT stories, had been scrapped. I was already bummed by The Last Ronin not moving forward, but now I’m especially shook after learning it was going to directly tie into one of the past film series.
Judith Hoag, who played April O’Neil in 1990’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, recently took part in a panel at Big Lick Comic-Con in Roanoke alongside Ernie Reyes Jr., who played Keno in the following year’s The Secret of the Ooze. During the panel, which was moderated by Collider’s Maggie mentioned that she’d had talks about joining The Last Ronin before it was shelved. Meaning, this film adaptation was going to be set in the same continuity as that 1990 movie, if not the entire original TMNT film trilogy. As Hoag said:
Yes, I've been approached, and I'd be happy. It would be a great bookend for me. And maybe that happens and maybe it doesn't. We'll see.
The five-issue Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin was published from October 2020 to April 2022 and written by written by Tom Waltz and TMNT co-creator Kevin Eastman, who crafted the story with fellow co-creator Peter Laird. The story takes place in an alternate future where the last surviving Turtle (I won’t say who) is looking to kill the Hiroto, the grandson of their arch-nemesis Shredder and the man he holds responsible for his brothers’ death. Although that comic book story took place in its own self-contained universe, thanks to Judith Hoag, we know The Last Ronin movie was going to build off the events that brought the Ninja Turtles to the big screen for the first time.
Man, now I’m extra upset that Paramount decided not to move forward with this project. I was already excited at the prospect of getting an R-rated Ninja Turtles movie, as we’ve gotten plenty of family-friendly movies and TV shows starring Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo and Raphael. Taking the Turtles into even darker and grittier territory appealed to me, even more so now that I know the cinematic The Last Ronin was going to be targeted at those of us who grew up watching the original TMNT movies. This is one legacyquel I don’t need any convincing to get behind.
Paige Turco replaced Judith Hoag as April O’Neil in The Secret of the Ooze and Teenage Mutant Turtles III, and while Hoag did return to the franchise to cameo Rita, the boss of Megan Fox’s April, in 2016’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, her scenes were deleted. It’s a shame that we won’t get to see her reprise her version of April and learn what’s happened to her over the last few decades. However, I’m more disappointed by how we’ve now potentially missed out on the scrapped movie’s lead Turtle being brought to life through a practical suit, just like the old days. Mutant Mayem director Jeff Rowe may consider it “filmmaking poison,” but I think that would have been a risk worth taking.
I’ll cross my fingers that Paramount will change its mind someday and put The Last Ronin back into development. For now, Mutant Mayhem 2 will hit theaters on September 17, 2027, and the next live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie will follow on November 17, 2028.
