TMNT: The Last Ronin – Confirmation & Everything We Know

Summary

• Paramount is developing a live-action adaptation of
  TMNT: The Last Ronin
  for a darker and R-rated take on the franchise.
• The Last Ronin
  will focus on Michelangelo seeking revenge as the last surviving turtle in a dystopian future.
• No director or actors are attached yet, with Tyler Burton Smith writing the script for the film adaptation.

With the popularity of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise at an all-time high, a live-action adaptation has been announced for the popular comic series, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin​​​​​​. Beginning in the 1980s with Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird’s comics, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise concerns the eponymous youthful mutated reptiles as they fight crime in New York City. Though the comics were a bit grittier, the TMNT found great popularity with children and became one of the best-selling toy, video game, movie, and cartoon series of the 1990s.

Though the series struggled at the turn of the new millennium with a handful of lackluster TMNT movie adaptations, the course was corrected by the arrival of 2023’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. The animated feature film brought the fun-loving and nostalgic spirit back to the franchise and was immediately green-lit for a sequel and spinoff TV series. With the TMNT universe trending in the right direction, Paramount has announced they will try again with a live-action adaptation, focusing on the beloved comic storyline, The Last Ronin.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin Is Confirmed

Paramount Announces Another TMNT Movie

This announcement comes as something of a surprise since the studio’s kid-friendly
TMNT
universe is already growing with the upcoming TV series
Tales of the TMNT
that comes later in 2024

With Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem 2 coming soon, Paramount has announced they are developing a live-action film adaptation of TMNT: The Last Ronin. This announcement comes as something of a surprise since the studio’s kid-friendly TMNT universe is already growing with the upcoming TV series Tales of the TMNT that comes later in 2024. Unlike the projects mentioned above, The Last Ronin is expected to follow the darker approach of the comics and is even reportedly aiming for an R rating.

The Last Ronin
will be the first
TMNT
movie with an R rating.

It is unusual in the modern age of franchise filmmaking for a studio to present two different faces for one of its most popular intellectual properties. However, it won’t be hard to differentiate between the family-oriented Mutant Mayhem universe and the distinctly NSFW Last Ronin. This is because The Last Ronin will be a live-action movie, the first TMNT film to attempt the medium since 2016’s TMNT: Out of the Shadows. Though it hasn’t been confirmed yet, it’s assumed that The Last Ronin won’t be connected to Mutant Mayhem or its sequel.

The TMNT film franchise includes:

Who Is Making Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin?

The New TMNT Movie Has Found Its Screenwriter

Still in the early stages of development, no director or actors are attached to the adaption of The Last Ronin. However, Paramount has hired Tyler Burton Smith to pen the script, and he is perhaps best known for writing the tongue-in-cheek action flick, Boy Kills World. The only other name attached to the project thus far is producer Walter Hamada who will oversee the film under his 18hz production company. The Last Ronin is also being adapted into a video game, but it’s unlikely that the two products will be directly linked.

Stream
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
on Paramount+ and Amazon Prime Video.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin Story Details

Michelangelo Is The Last Surviving Turtle On A Quest For Revenge

The movie will adapt the beloved 5-issue comic series from 2020 that is set in an alternate universe of the IDW Comics TMNT series. In the dystopian future, Michelangelo is the lone survivor of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles who is out for revenge after his entire family was slaughtered by the Foot Clan in the wake of Shredder’s death. Mikey is transformed into a famed Ronin, or lone Samurai, and he makes it his life’s mission to bring down Hiroto who rules NYC as a totalitarian dictator.

Since the film aims to be R-rated, it can be assumed that it won’t skimp on any of the gory details from the comics and will probably maintain the comics’ overwhelmingly dour tone. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin was the first in a series of off-shoots set in the so-called “Roninverse” and it isn’t known if the movie adaptation will draw any inspiration from those other comic runs.