Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Might Not Feature Casey Jones
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Ever since the screenplay for the Michael Bay-produced Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot leaked onto the Internet last year, the production team has tried everything in their power to keep fans excited about the project, despite reports of questionable elements. However, it seems that, at every turn, fans are increasingly frustrated with the reboot’s developments. Now the latest word from the film’s production seems to have sucked out all the badass out of the damn movie!
According to Geek Tyrant’s sources, the masked vigilante Casey Jones will not appear in the reboot. Instead, TMNT will feature a bigger role for Will Arnett’s Vernon Fenwick character. If Casey Jones won’t be in the movie, why even bother?
Casey Jones is the one of the most popular non-mutant characters in the entire TMNT mythology. In the 1990 live-action film, actor Elias Koteas and brought a messy grit and grime to the beloved character. Casey Jones is not only a masked vigilante, he’s also the Turtles’ connection to the outside human world and April O’Neil’s love interest.
Jones was originally meant to be a comment on masked vigilantes in comic books, but he soon evolved into a fan-favorite. He made his first appearance in the comic book “Raphael #1” in 1985, so he’s just as integral to the Turtles canon as April O’Neil, the Shredder, and Master Splinter. Maybe Jones will turn up in inevitable sequel.
Geek Tyrant also says actor William Fichtner has signed a new deal to appear in three more TMNT movies. Fichtner plays the reboot’s villain, Eric Sachs, a whitewashed and American version of the Shredder. They also claim the action in the film is “comparable to The Raid,” which would be refreshing and exciting to watch. TMNT co-creator Kevin Eastman has often said that the new reboot will be a mix between The Avengers and The Raid, so that certainly backs up Geek Tyrant’s claims.
There are no official plot details available for TMNT at this point, but it seems likely that it will feature the Turtles, Splinter, and the Shredder’s origin stories. It was recently revealed that the Shredder’s henchmen BeBop and Rocksteady will join Casey Jones as no-shows in the upcoming movie.
It seems that the TMNT reboot won’t be the dark and gritty movie fans of the series were hoping for, but it looks to be stricing to find will a new audience instead. Everything from the film’s casting to the absence of badass fan-favorites point to the TMNT reboot being a poor and watered-down version of the Heroes in a Half-Shell, but with all rumors and speculation, take this news with a grain of salt.
The TMNT reboot stars Megan Fox, Danny Woodburn, Alan Ritchson, Pete Ploszek, Jeremy Howard, Noel Fisher, Will Arnett, Whoopi Goldberg, and William Fichtner as the Shredder. Screenwriters Josh Appelbaum & André Nemec (Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol) wrote the script, while Jonathan Liebesman (Battle: Los Angeles) directed the new reboot film.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will hit theaters everywhere on August 8, 2014.
