With the success of the animated film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, most fans knew it was only a matter of time before the boys returned to live-action. According to The Hollywood Reporter, that’s exactly what’s happening, but in a new and unexpected way. According to the report, Paramount is developing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin, an adaptation of a popular recent IDW comics series and an upcoming video game. Not only will this be a live-action feature, but in a first for the Ninja Turtles franchise, they are aiming for an R-rating. Former DC Films head executive Walter Hamada is producing.
Tyler Burton Smith, who co-wrote the 2019 reboot of Child’s Play is writing the script. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin comic is a relatively recent one, coming out as a five-issue mini-series in 2020. It was co-written by TMNT creator Peter Laird, along with Tom Waltz. Esau and Isaac Escorza, Ben Bishop, and Eastman provided the art. The Last Ronin takes place in a dystopian future New York, one where Shredder’s murderous grandson kills three of the Turtles and Splinter one by one. Only one of the Turtles survives and goes on a Kill Bill-style mission of revenge.
In the original comic, they didn’t make it clear which Turtle survived for some time. Since he had the weapons of all four of them, it was a tantalizing mystery. This The Last Ronin conceit is something they’ll likely keep as part of the upcoming R-rated Teenage Muntant Ninja Turtles film.
The last Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles live-action film came out in 2016. It was a follow-up to the 2014 reboot produced by Michael Bay. Although both did well financially, they received a mixed reception from TMNT fandom. With the success of the recent animated film, it seems Paramount wants to have Ninja Turtles in a variety of flavors. With the success of movies like Deadpool, there’s nothing stopping an R-rated Ninja Turtles film from finding similar success. Especially as the original comics series was a huge success. No word yet on a director or release date, but we expect this one to get fast-tracked soon.
