Paramount Scraps R-Rated 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin' Film Adaptation In Favor Of Family-Friendly Film

Paramount scrapped its previously announced R-Rated adaptation of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin is a five-issue comic book series published by IDW Publishing between October 2020 and April 2022. The series was written by original creator Kevin Eastman and Tom Waltz and based on an idea that Eastman and Peter Laird came up with.

The story is set in a post-apocalyptic New York City that is run by Oruku Hiroto, the grandson of the Shredder and son of Karai. A lone turtle, who is haunted by the deaths of his brothers works to put an end to Hiroto’s despotic rule.

The film was announced back in April 2024 with The Hollywood Reporter’s Borys Kit sharing that Tyler Burton Smith, who wrote the 2019 Child’s Play movie and the video game Alan Wake II was writing the script. Former DC head Walter Hamada was attached to produce the film through his 18hz production company.

A recent report from Borys Kit at The Hollywood Reporter claims the film, which had Nobody director Ilya Naishuller in talks to direct, has now been scrapped in favor of a family friendly live-action entry from Sonic the Hedgehog producer Neal H. Moritz. Joining Moritz to produce is Toby Ascher.

Kit wrote, “The Last Ronin, another TMNT live-action/CG animation hybrid project that was in development, has been put back in the pizza box, according to sources.”

He also shared that one source informed him that the project might see the light at the end of the tunnel sometime in the future.

This announcement comes in the wake of Paramount not renewing the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem TV spinoff Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles after its initially planned two season run.

Showrunner Christopher Yost said in a post on Threads, “Yes, it’s true... the upcoming episodes of Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will sadly be the last. Luckily, they’re our best episodes yet. Had a blast working on the show with the best crew in the business.”

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