Canceled TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: THE LAST RONIN Movie Gets Hopeful Update From Co-Creators

Fans who thought Paramount had shelved its R-rated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles epic for good might want to pump the brakes. The live-action adaptation of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin may be on pause, but according to the creators behind the comic, it isn’t completely gone.

Back in April 2024, Paramount officially announced plans for a darker, R-rated take on the Turtles with Tyler Burton Smith attached to write the script and Ilya Naishuller circling the director’s chair.

The film was set to adapt the gritty five-issue comic miniseries, which jumps into a dystopian future where only one Turtle remains. That lone warrior is on a brutal mission to avenge his fallen brothers by taking down the grandson of their longtime enemy, the Shredder.

Then came the November 2025 report that The Last Ronin had been put on hold. Paramount opted to prioritize a more family-friendly Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot instead, leading many fans to assume the R-rated project had been scrapped entirely.

But, not so fast! During a recent conversation with Entertainment Weekly, co-creators Kevin Eastman and Tom Waltz offered an optimistic update that should give Turtle fans something to hold onto.

“I don’t think the movie’s off the table. I think it’s just delayed,” said Eastman. “Speaking with all the folks at Viacom and Paramount and Nickelodeon who love the Turtles and really have done a fantastic job, whether it be the 2012 series to Mutant Mayhem, I don’t think it will not happen.”

Eastman doubled down on that confidence, adding, “I think it will happen. One of the things that anybody I’ve talked to at the companies, they know the fans love and support all things Last Ronin, as much as another group of fans love everything Point Grey [Pictures, production company], Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, and everybody has done with the whole Mutant Mayhem series. We’re not disheartened at all.”

That’s about as reassuring as it gets without an official green light. Interestingly, this hopeful update comes just a week after Judith Hoag, who played April O’Neil in the original 1990 live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film, revealed that Paramount had approached her about returning for The Last Ronin. Speaking at Roanoke’s Big Lick Comic-Con, Hoag said:

“Yes, I’ve been approached, and I’d be happy. It would be a great bookend for me. And maybe that happens and maybe it doesn’t. We’ll see,”

If Hoag was in talks to reprise her role, it suggests the R-rated Last Ronin movie may have been conceived as a legacy sequel tied to the original live-action trilogy released between 1990 and 1993. That idea alone is enough to get longtime fans fired up.

For now, the darker side of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise remains in limbo while Paramount pushes forward with more family-friendly TMNT adventures. But based on Eastman’s comments, the studio hasn’t completely turned its back on the gritty, future-set revenge saga.