We’re never far from a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot. Paramount’s Michael Bay-produced movie duo may have failed to be as big as the studio hoped, but you can’t keep a good Turtle down forever. And sure enough, it seems the heroes in a half-shell may be revived in a new streaming TV series that could be the darkest take on the franchise we’ve ever seen.
The Cinema Spot is reporting that CBS All Access is developing a new live-action TMNT show, which will be based on The Last Ronin, an upcoming IDW limited series from original creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. For those unfamiliar with it, the five-issue comic is a kind of Old Man Logan-style spin on the TMNT universe, following a sole surviving Turtle (it’s unclear which one) living in a dystopian New York as he embarks on a “seemingly hopeless mission to obtain justice for his fallen family and friends.” The Last Ronin is due out later this year.
It would be a pretty radical redirection for the franchise if a series inspired by The Last Ronin did go ahead. As fans will know, though, the initial comics from back in the 1980s were much more mature than the animated show they spawned, which provided the template for the Turtles’ tone ever after. So, maybe it’s time that a bit of that grit’s injected back into the brand.
The Cinema Spot writes that this series would be a hugely ambitious undertaking, as it’s “set to be the result of a massive collaboration between CBS, Paramount, Nickelodeon and other ViacomCBS-owned companies.” It’s apparently unclear at present how far along the road the project is, but it’s noted that CBS has yet to give the production a full series order, so clearly it’s still fairly early days.
Tell us, though, are you interested to see this bold reinvention of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles come to life? Sound off in the comments section below.
