After the success of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, inspiring a sequel and animated series, Paramount Pictures continues to go all in on Turtle Power. THR reports that the studio is now developing a new R-rated, live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie.

The live-action movie, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin, an adaptation of the bestselling IDW comic miniseries of the same name. It’ll mark the first R-rated feature film for the franchise.

The Last Ronin is “Set in a totalitarian future New York City, the comic mini-series told of how the Turtles and master Splinter are killed off one by one by the grandson of the villainous Shredder and synthetic ninjas. One Turtle manages to survive, barely, and vows to exact bloody vengeance. One trick of the book was that it wasn’t clear, for a while at least, which one of the Turtles lived as the survivor had the weapons of all four.”

In other words, expect the opposite of the innocent teens we met in Mutant Mayhem.

Tyler Burton Smith, who co-wrote the upcoming R-rated action brawler movie Boy Kills World and who wrote the 2019 Child’s Play reboot, is writing the script.

THR also notes that Walter Hamada is producing through his 18hz production company. Hamada is the former head of DC Films who previously worked at New Line, where he oversaw the Warner Bros. division’s horror movies, including The Conjuring and It franchises.

IDW ran The Last Ronin from 2020 to 2022, where it became a massive hit. The comic miniseries was written by Kevin Eastman and Tom Waltz, based on an older story by Eastman and co-creator Peter Laird. Artists included Esau and Isaac Escorza, Ben Bishop, and Eastman.

The Ninja Turtles originally debuted as a black and white indie comic in 1984, and received its first live-action adaptation in 1990 with the family friendly Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles at New Line Cinema.

Considering that 2024 marks the 40th anniversary of the Ninja Turtles, we can expect to hear a lot more about our fearsome fighting team soon.