ComingSoon Senior Movie News Editor Brandon Schreur spoke to Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles co-showrunners Christopher Yost and Alan Wan about the upcoming Paramount+ original series. The duo discussed their love for the titular turtles, working with an all-star cast, and more.
“The series explores the adventures of everyone’s favorite pizza-loving heroes as they emerge from the sewers onto the streets of NYC,” the series’ logline reads. “Leo, Raph, Donnie, and Mikey are faced with new threats and team up with old allies to survive both teenage life and villains lurking in the shadows of the Big Apple.”
Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will debut on Paramount+ on August 9, 2024.
Brandon Schreur: First of all, I just wanted to say congratulations to you guys for Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I got a chance to watch the first six episodes and I absolutely loved it. I had so much fun with it.
Christopher Yost: Dude, I really appreciate that. Thank you.
For sure. I’m wondering if you can me a little bit about your approach to the series. I know in Mutant Mayhem, the movie before, it’s very much about the turtles coming together and learning how to take on these new roles. In the series, at least for the four episodes, you split them up and have them doing their own things. What was the thought process behind that?
Christopher: I think it was really to do something different. People have seen many versions of the turtles before. They’re just walking out of Mutant Mayhem, having seen that. This is like taking everything you know and love about Mutant Mayhem, carrying it over into the show, but also really putting a spotlight on the turtles as individuals. We’re really putting them in positions, whether they’re fighting the Purple Dragons or an army of killer mechazoids, to have them step outside themselves and see who they are without their brothers. Leo is the leader, but who does he lead without his bros around? At the end of the day, what happens when Donny has to be the tough one? When Mikey has to be the responsible one? Or when Raph has to tell jokes? At the end of the day, we’re trying to show the turtles in a new light we haven’t necessarily seen them in before but, at the same time, we’re carrying on the fun, the charm, and the full-on teenager-ness of Mutant Mayhem as well.
Yeah, definitely, and I loved that approach, too. Like you said, kind of seeing them have to learn how to do things they’re not used to. Another thing I loved about the show was the introduction of all these new characters. Pigeon Pete was hilarious, made me laugh every single time. I know you’ve got Pete Davidson voicing Rod and Danny Trejo is voicing someone in the later episodes. What was it like to work with this kind of cast?
Christopher: It was nuts. At the end of the day, we’re incredibly fortunate to be able to carry over a lot of the cast from the movie — all of the kids and Ayo [Edebiri] as April. It was a gift. They are super fun and bring a full-on, real teenager-ness to it. On top of that, we got to work with people like Rose Byrne and Post Malone. Pete Davidson was insanely funny. There are people you wouldn’t necessarily even think of as a role; Timothy Olyphant and Danny Trejo, they add so much character and awesomeness to it. Even as a fan, I was just like, ‘Dang, this is pretty great.’
Definitely. I know there’s obviously a Mutant Mayhem sequel in the works. Were there any characters that you wanted to use, like Casey Jones or Shredder, but you couldn’t because they’re saving them for the sequel?
Christopher: It’s not a touchy subject but, obviously, the movies are doing the movie thing and the show is doing the show thing. It’s always a conversation. At the end of the day, obviously, we don’t want to step on their toes and they want to do everything they can to help the show. Definitely, the movie has plans that we don’t want to mess with. And that’s okay. The turtle universe is a big, big universe. There are plenty of toys to go around, and we got to make some new ones as well.
Sure. And that’s what I was going to ask you about, too, this new villain, Bishop. She was a really interesting character. At first, you think she’s kind of one thing, but then you learn some more about her. How did you guys go about developing her character?
Alan Wan: I think, with Bishop, it’s definitely one of those misunderstood characters. We want to make these villains multi-faceted. They’re not just your simple villain. There’s a backstory that we built. We also want to make sure that the motivation feels very genuine. Ultimately, she also has a full character arc where she has a change of heart and kind of learns the whole acceptance type of thing, which is very strong both in our series and in the movie.
Sure, yeah, definitely. The way it ends from the episodes that I saw, I can’t wait to see more from her. You think it’s going one way, then it’s going another way — it’s a great character, I was super into her. You guys have both been involved with TMNT for a long time. I grew up with the 1980s and 1990s show, but I also remember watching the 2003 one every Saturday morning as a kid; I got so excited for it. Now you’re back with another Ninja Turtles project. What is it about this franchise that kind of keeps bringing you back?
Alan: I think it’s definitely the characters. Even though there are unmistakable character traits of the four brothers, they’re just so easy to expand upon. These characters, you can easily identify with, you can tell a lot of stories with them. It’s almost like you are very — whenever I start a project, even though there are certain differences, you can always count on those certain turtle elements that you can always bring in to generate interesting stories with.
Christopher: They’re pretty malleable. Like Alan said, you can put them in any story. Over the 40 years of turtles; you want to tell a time-travel story? Great. You want some dinosaurs in there, some time travel? Sure. You want them to be wizards? Great. I think what works about them, across every story, is their humanity and their personalities. Something you can identify with. I think for our show, which is a much more grounded take on it despite them being mutants and turtles and all that, they’re really just teenagers first-and-foremost. We’re going to have all the fun you associate with that franchise, with the turtles series. The movie is our guiding light. If you like that movie, you’re going to enjoy the show.