Those rebellious reptiles you all know and love are back for a brand new series on Paramount+! All 12 episodes of the premiere season of Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are available to stream on Aug. 9.
The series is set two months after the events of the film Mutant Mayhem and follows the Turtles as they navigate their dual lives as both teenagers and heroes in New York City.
The voice cast from Mutant Mayhem reprise their roles in the episodes. This includes Micah Abbey as Donatello, Shamon Brown Jr. as Michelangelo, Nicolas Cantu as Leonardo, Brady Noon as Raphael, and Ayo Edebiri as April O'Neil. Guest and reccuring voices to listen for include Pete Davidson as Rod, Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Pigeon Pete, Timothy Olyphant as Goldfin, Jillian Bell as Lee the Eel, and Danny Trejo as Mustang Sally.
The Parent Watch got the opportunity to speak with Nicolas Cantu, Brady Noon, and Micah Abbey who voice Leonardo, Raphael, and Donatello respectively as well as Chris Yost and Alan Wan, the series' co-showrunners. Read on below to get the inside scoop on what the voice cast thinks of their characters and what episodes to watch out for!
Do you each feel like you have similarities to your characters, and what they, if so?
Nicholas Cantu: I like the color blue. The fact that I wear blue all the time works. But as for similarities with Leo. I wouldn't even say I'm that great of a planner. Maybe I don't have that many similarities with I don't have Ninja swords, but I would say his love for his brothers is something I can relate to because I'm a brother of three. I'm the middle child, so I know what it's like to grow up in a big house, and it's just something very special to me.
Mich Abbey: I speak for Nick when I say he's definitely the leader. So he has that aspect. I know he's very humble, but yeah, he definitely knows how to bring us all together. I feel like I connect to Donny with the tech aspect and just trying to make him a lot cooler and see him. He's definitely fit for this generation of geeks, if you get what I'm saying. It's a different type of geek.
Brady Noon: Yeah, I think I have some similarities. Raph's a pretty angry guy, so it's hard to match that anger at all times. Not really too similar there. I would say his love for his siblings.
I think I'm going to steal that one from you. Yeah. It's a good one. Yeah. I'd say his love for his siblings. Yeah, I also I'm a brother of two other siblings, so I just know what that's like to be apart. And when you're together, that's everything.
Those are great answers. Coming off of the film, too, and going into the series, obviously the film did so well. How are you all feeling? What was your reaction to hearing that you were going to be doing multiple episodes for this?
MA: I was even more excited! I just get to do the same thing over and over again. I'm happy here. I get to hang out with my boys all day and just chill and have fun.
NC: I was definitely excited to see the announcement for the series and to be able to play this character for longer and see how he grows and changes. It's just been a blast, dude. Being a Ninja Turtle is fun, so I'm glad that all these other opportunities are coming up. It's great!
BN: It's been a lot of fun and just being able to come back now and change certain things and fix other things. It's just another opportunity for us to show the world more turtle love.
Were you able to catch a glimpse of any of the episodes, or is there one that sticks out to you that you're like, 'Oh, this one speaks for the entire series?'
NC: I would say the ending of this first tale is the one that brings it all together because with the show, we're exploring these individual stories of the turtles.
MA: The ending because we really are ourselves. I have a bias. I obviously love my episode, but definitely the end, I feel pulls it all together. It makes it all worth it.
NC: I loved Shaman's episode, Mikey's episode, "Running Around with Rod." It was hilarious to me. It's great. It was great. Pete Davidson plays Rod in the show and it's just a fun time. It's great to watch.
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are multi-generational. Everyone knows them. I'd love to know if your parents have any opinions about you being this next generation of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
BN: My mom thinks it's pretty cool, My uncle thinks it's sick because when he grew up he was the biggest Turtle fan, so he's really stoked for me. Just to be able to I play such a significant character in such a giant franchise that I feel everyone, no matter what age, has been touched by it at some point is really special, and I want to make the most of it.
MA: My mom and my dad are very happy for me and they just think it's awesome. I have a lot of family members that are big fans, especially my cousin Aiden. It's really cool!
You both already know the TMNT franchise inside and out. Anything you learned from working on the previous series to this 2024 iteration?
Chris Yost: Oh, gosh. I worked on the 2003 show, which was a pretty straightforward action superhero version. It was great, but it was largely action with bits of fun and bits of the kids and all that. 2012, which was a Nickelodeon CG turtle show, which was phenomenal and I loved, but they really dial it up to 12 with space adventures and time travel and aliens and all these things. I love that, too. This show really focuses mostly on the teenage experience of it, that these four turtles really are -- more than anything else -- kids, that they are teenagers first and foremost. Whatever adventure they're on, whatever Ninja thing they're doing, whatever robot they're fighting, they're going to approach it like a kid, like a teenager. We've really been focused on really keeping that at the forefront and using the movie Mutant Mayhem as a guide to do that because they hit it out of the park.
Alan Wan: For me, 2012 is my full introduction to Ninja Turtles, which is a CG show. In terms of storytelling, like Chris said, that show has the biggest range. We went all over the place from going to ancient Japan to go into space. Then, the next version that I was on, Rise of TMNT which actually has a really heavy anime element to it. We also have tried to push the turtles to have magical powers and that stuff. But once we get to this, Tales of TMNT, which we are working off of Mutant Mayhem, I thought one of the most differentiating point is the grounded-ness, the authenticity of teenage teenager. It's almost like I finally can get a sense of what real teenage mutants are like. They talk about nerdy stuff. They have funny reaction to really dire situations. I felt that's the most different thing about this current series.
You two are co-show runners, when it comes to the production process with this animation style, what stands out to you? It's different in terms of what was done in the previous series.
CY: Well, stylistically, it's pretty different. Alan can speak to that. The visual look of it is, I find, phenomenal. There's nothing on TV like it. Alan and his team have done an amazing job on just the look of the show. That really sets it apart. The stories. They're pretty fun, but really, it's really pushing the fun first, the teenage aspect of it first. We fight evil robots, and we meet all kinds of new mutants and all that. It's getting it grounded more than anything in both story and art to a certain extent.
AW: It was truly a collaborative process working with Chris on making the show. I think story is king, and we always take the story and figure out what's the best way to turn it into animation. Using Mutant Mayhem as our guiding light, trying to find that less polished CG style and turn it into a 2D animated format, and where we're less concerned about the line quality, how polished it is. It's more like a much more raw approach. We're more focused on gesture, movement, facial expression, how to highlight that teen-ishness. I thought having Chris as a partner, having his eye on it, also our partners from Point Grey-- Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, and Jeff Rowe -- it really helped. I felt we developed something that truly highlight teenagers.
I really appreciate and admire this animation style, which is why I ask. Chris, I know you also have a background in TV show and comic book writing, so I'm curious about the actual writing process, too. Is there an episode that is your favorite out of the ones that have been written?
CY: Episode 8. I love it. It's one of those episodes where I just fell in love with it. It's a Mikey episode, and Mikey goes to the grocery store. Without spoiling too much, it turns into the most insane thing ever, and I adore it. They're all good. The fun of it is each one feels different. Each one feels like its own little mini movie, a different genre even. Some of them are more action, some of them are more comedy, some of them are more weirdly sci-fi. We have a disaster movie in the next six episodes. It just takes everything off in a bizarre, weird direction. I think that the hope is that every episode is going to have its own fans and everyone's going to respond to something different in all of them because we deliver you a twelve-course meal of fun stuff. We're excited for the world to see it.