Paramount and Nickelodeon have released the first trailer for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, the latest animated reboot of the film series, produced by Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg and James Weaver, and directed by Jeff Rowe from a script by Brendan O’Brien.
As well as the animation’s scratchy, graffiti-esque cel-shading, the trailer reveals the movie is an origin story featuring the title characters as very young kids, who are still new to the surface world and battling evil. A blink-and-you’ll-miss-it shot shows the turtles as even younger kids, and Michelangelo even has braces. As announced by Rogen during this weekend’s Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards, the turtles are voiced by actual teenage unknowns Nicolas Cantu (Leonardo), Shamon Brown Jr. (Mikey), Micah Abbey (Donatello), and Brady Noon (Raphael), who also appeared in Rogen and Goldberg’s Good Boys.
There are only brief glimpses of the gang’s mentor, Splinter (voiced by Jackie Chan, and sporting a Jheri curl), and villains Bebop and Rocksteady (played by Rogen himself and John Cena). April O’Neil (The Bear‘s Ayo Edebiri) is introduced at the end, learning about the secrets of the ooze from our heroes. Like Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles‘ take on the character, April is a bespectacled African American.
Noticeably absent are the rest of the newly announced cast, including Ice Cube’s character Superfly; Paul Rudd’s Mondo Gecko; Natasia Demetriou’s Wingnut; Rogen’s Neighbors co-star Rose Byrne as Leatherhead; Post Malone’s Ray Fillet; Hannibal Buress’s Genghis Frog; Maya Rudolph’s Cynthia Utrom; and Giancarlo Esposito, who is voicing the scientist responsible for all the titular mayhem, Baxter Stockman.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem will be released in theaters on August 4, 2023. In the meantime, you can also check out the teaser poster:
