Wednesday, June 24, 2020

Live-Action ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ Series NOT in the Works at CBS All Access

UPDATE - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles co-creator Kevin Eastman has confirmed on Twitter that there are currently NO plans for a live-action TMNT series, saying: "THIS IS NOT HAPPENING. We have spoken with the powers that be, Nickelodeon and this is 100 % fake. Would be cool - but NOT happening"


A new live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series is currently in development for CBS All Access, The Cinema Spot is reporting.


The series is set to adapt The Last Ronin, which is the upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles five-issue miniseries from IDW Publishing. The comic series, the first new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from franchise co-creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird in decades, is set to release later this summer.

The synopsis of the comic is listed below:

"In a future New York City far different from the one we know today, a lone surviving Turtle goes on a seemingly hopeless mission to obtain justice for his fallen family and friends."

The series is set to be the result of a massive collaboration between CBS, Paramount, Nickelodeon and other ViacomCBS-owned companies. While it is unclear how far along in development the project is, a series order has not yet been given.

Eastman described the project in a press release from IDW, “About ten years ago, I re-discovered a twenty page outline for a TMNT story that Peter and I wrote together back in 1987. The story was set thirty years in the future, which (as written then) was set in 2017.”


He added, “Reading through it again, I drifted back to a very different time in TMNT history — back when it was all about the comics, mostly just Peter and I writing and drawing the issues, pre-everything the world would soon come to know about these characters that we’d created and called the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.”

Eastman continued, “A little over a year ago, as the ongoing series headed towards issue one hundred, I showed a rough revised and updated version of the story outline (now set in the year 2040) to Tom Waltz, who equally fell in love with the possibilities of it.”

The Last Ronin is a heartfelt love poem to all the TMNT universes of the past, and offers up an intense look at one possible future — firmly based on and adapted from an original thirty-three year-old idea, from the original creators,” Eastman stated.

Here’s the official description for the first issue:

“It’s the TMNT event of 2020! Springing from the minds of TMNT co-creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird comes an epic like you’ve never seen before! In a future NYC far different than the one we know today, a lone surviving Turtle goes on a seemingly hopeless mission to obtain justice for his fallen family and friends. Kinetic layouts from Eastman, moody inks from Andy Kuhn and a thrilling script full of surprises from longtime TMNT scribe Tom Waltz all combine to make this one of the most memorable TMNT stories you will ever read!

Oversized in both format and page count, this is a perennial TMNT tale that can’t be missed!”

The last we really heard about a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles live-action project was back in January 2019 when A Quiet Place producers Brad Fuller and Andrew Form confirmed to Variety on the red carpet at the Critics Choice Awards they were looking at rebooting the Turtles.


When asked what they had in the works they answered, “Jack Ryan Season 2 just wrapped, the sequel of A Quiet Place, and we are doing a reboot of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles at Paramount.”

When pressed for more details Form stated, “It’s looking like production by the end of the year.” He later added, “We don’t have a director yet. We have dates we’re trying to hit that’s all.”

Then, in November, it was reported that Netflix was planning a live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles adaptation.

The news comes as ViacomCBS is prepping to relaunch CBS All Access in 2021, including more content from networks such as Nickelodeon. The streaming service also recently added the documentary Turtle Power: The Definitive History of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Rise of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Nickelodeon's current iteration of the iconic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise, airs on Nicktoons.

More Nick: Netflix and Nickelodeon Form Multi-Year Output Deal to Produce Original Animated Films and Series!

Source: Bounding Into Comics; H/T: Anime Superhero Forum /@Mostezli.
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