At CinemaCon last week, we got an update on the upcoming sequel to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. While we still don’t have a title for the movie, producers Seth Rogen, James Weaver, and Evan Goldberg announced that Shredder and Krang will be the villains. Both being classic bad guys rooted in the early days of the TMNT, their return is a welcome one, though it also raises some questions.
It’s going to be a spectacle far exceeding Mutant Mayhem
Shredder, of course, is especially important for the movie to get right. He’s been the biggest villain of TMNT since the first issue of the comic way back in 1984. In the Turtles fandom, there’s also some concern about the upcoming sequel’s take on the Shredder as Mutant Mayhem’s streamlined origin story for the Turtles removed the presence of Hamato Yoshi from their history. Ninja master Hamato Yoshi had traditionally been the owner of the pet rat that became Splinter. Or, in other versions, Hamato Yoshi himself became Splinter. Mutant Mayhem, however, made Splinter a regular, non-pet rat who was transformed with four baby turtles into mutants that he then raised as his sons. (They all learned to be ninjas by watching VHS tapes of old martial arts training videos.)
By extension, Shredder/Oroku Saki has generally been the rival to Hamato Yoshi, which tied the Turtles’ origins to their biggest villain. So without Hamato Yoshi, who then is the Shredder?
This concern is why, when I recently interviewed Mutant Mayhem and its sequel director Jeff Rowe for an upcoming piece about The Mitchells vs. the Machines, I had to see what he was willing to share about his take on the Turtles’ greatest foe.
“All will be revealed in time,” Rowe tells Polygon. “I’ll just say that I am really excited by this take on the character. It’s going to be a spectacle far exceeding Mutant Mayhem. I’m so excited to share it with the world.”
Rowe also said of the sequel in general, “Everything is pushed — the look, the action — it’s a lot more.”
That’s a pretty big promise, as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is a spectacular-looking movie with plenty of action. That “No Diggity” sequence alone instantly became one of the greatest moments in the 40-year history of the franchise, so it’ll take quite a bit to top that.
As for the relationship between the Turtles and Shredder, it looks like we’ll just have to wait.
The sequel to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem arrives in theaters Aug. 13, 2027.
