Summary
Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtlespicks up after the Turtles saved New York City in Mutant Mayhem. Now seen as heroes of New York City Raph, Leo, Mikey, and Donnie are trying to balance their new responsibilities while also finally living as normal teenagers. However, a new threat will force the Turtles to face dangers they never have before with a foe who will do anything to take them down.
Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtlesis helmedby co-showrunners Alan Wan and Chris Yost, who have worked on multipleTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtlesprojects throughout their careers. The series uses a different animation style than the acclaimedMutant Mayhem, but takes inspiration from the idea of being influenced by the drawing styles of teenagers. Ayo Edebiri, Brady Noon, Nicolas Cantu, Shamon Brown Jr., andMicah Abbey reprise theirMutant Mayhemroles, once again finding the perfect balance between comedy, teenage silliness, heart, and action.
Tales Of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Cast, Trailer & Everything We Know
The TMNT are returning in their very own TV series, Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles which is connected to 2023’s hit film Mutant Mayhem.
Screen Rantinterviewed Micah Abbey, Nicolas Cantu, & Brady Noon, stars ofTales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. They broke down how each of the Turtles growsafter the events ofMutant Mayhem. They also tease elements of each adventure and Cantu explained how he reflected Leo’s feelings about being away from his brothers in his voice acting.
The Stars Explain How Each Of The Turtles Grow After Being Split Apart
Noon, Cantu, and Abbey explained how Raph, Leo, and Donnie, respectively, grow as heroes in their own right. After the Turtles are split apart, they revealed how being away from their team helped them to better appreciate their brothers and find strength in areas they hadn’t before.
Brady Noon: Yeah, I think I kind of wanted to tap into almost a softer side of Raph. I think in the first movie, we really saw how offensive he can be, and we saw he’s the hot head of the group, but I think in the series, it just gave me more time to dissect him as a character and just make him a little more likable.
So I think that that was really just important because now they’re living in the society with people so people know who they are. They identify them as heroes. So yeah, just fitting that hero role and getting more into that and getting more comfortable with that was a really important jump for Raph, I think.
Nicolas Cantu: Yeah, for me, playing Leo kind of going at it alone, I think a big part of that was seeing how he changed, not, I guess, bossing around his brothers or being in command of the team. It’s very interesting to see how those leadership qualities either, I guess, go inward or it’s like a self-discipline thing.
I just thought it was going to be cool to explore what Leo’s going to do without his bros. I mean, he was definitely worried and he wanted everybody to be okay, but I mean, I think he did a pretty good job by himself. He needs his brothers, but he killed it.
Micah Abbey: I think Donnie just developing the feeling of thinking on his feet and doing things himself. Not just always planning it out, but using his knowledge to his advantage helped a lot. But I know he missed his brothers, and there was a lot of times where he needed them.
I think just the character realizing that, how much he needs his brothers and how much he kind of underappreciates them to an extent. Because he’s always like, Oh yeah, I want to get away from my brothers, but then he’s like, No, I really need my brothers right now. So I think that’s a good aspect that the show shows.
In your voice acting, how did you each want to show how much the characters had grown since the events ofMutant Mayhemwhile still tapping into the fun silliness of these are teenagers?
Nicolas Cantu: I think, for me, playing Leo in this isolated story, it was almost, I guess I would say I enhanced the anxiety with being away from the brothers, but then I also felt more like authoritative. I felt more, I guess, not action hero-y, but it was a lot of crazy action sequences in the show. So I almost felt, I don’t know if the word is mature or something, but it was just more gritty with what Leo was dealing with.
Micah Abbey: I feel like I shared a similar energy in the sense that, like I said earlier, Donnie just he needed to develop as a person. He needed to know that yes, there’s times where you need to be by yourself and you need to figure things out because who knows when this is going to happen again. But also he needs his brothers.
Brady Noon: I think just finding the strength and not rely on your brother so much, they have such a strong bond. I think that was kind of important for even us as the audience to see the Turtles split up. I mean, as an audience, you don’t really see the Turtle split up. They’re known as like, Oh, they’re the four Turtles. They’re a group. They stay together. It’s like when One Direction splits up, it’s like, bro. So yeah, just like that.
Brady Noon: We’re just One Direction pretty much.
The Stars Reveal Moments From Each Of The Turtles Solo Adventures
Cantu broke down how he approached the voice acting in showing how Leo is impacted by being separated from his family. He shared why he wanted Leo to not only show his anxiety, but also how he wanted to direct Leo’s leadership qualities inwards. Cantu also revealed how this experience will make Leo a better team leader.
Nicolas Cantu: Man, I think he learned, I guess, to trust them because you see the way that the series, or at least these first six episodes plays out, is that we all branch out from this one point. And then as you watch each Turtle’s individual episode, you kind of see hints to what the other Turtle’s doing or how the stories connect in little ways.
So I think Leo learns, I guess, trust because this whole time he’s freaking out about trying to find his bros, but in the end, he knows that everybody can make it out. We have a great little ending to this six episode bit where everybody’s working in harmony and it’s awesome.
Brady, Raph has a run in with the new gang in town. Can you tease that encounter and could we see thatpop up again later in the season?
Brady Noon: There’s definitely this new group and Raph also gets to play another character in that episode too. Yeah, this new villain organization, am I allowed to say
Brady Noon: Yeah. Am I allowed to?
Nicolas Cantu: I’ll do it. Purple Dragons.
Brady Noon: Alright. Well, yeah, the Purple Dragons are technically the new bad boys in town, but I mean, Raph actually ends up working with the Purple Dragons to kind of escape his way out. That was kind of like a quick run in that they had. But yeah, I think Raph and the Purple Dragons are on good terms. You might be seeing them later potentially. Possibly maybe not.
Nicolas Cantu: We don’t know.
Brady Noon: We don’t know that.
Micah, we actually see Donnie connect unexpectedly with the antagonist in the first half of the series. Can you talk about that sort of connection that we see with them?
Micah Abbey: I think that they share very similar qualities and I think that if Donnie didn’t have his brothers, he would go down a similar path in the sense that some people just want to find someone like them. I think that that shows a lot in this series. I think that Donnie connecting with an antagonist can show that our differences aren’t that big and that how similar we really are.
About Tales Of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
The Turtles, as teenagers, deal with their new life as heroes while also dealing with the pressures of going to high school in New York City.
Check out our otherTales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtlesinterviews:
Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtlesdebuts on Paramount+ on August 9.
Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Cast
A spin-off of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is an animated action-adventure series that sees the titular heroic turtles strike out on their own in an all-new storyline penned for television. Voice actors Micah Abbey, Shamon Brown Jr., Nicolas Cantu, and Brady Noon will return to reprise their roles as the four turtles.
