Leaping right from the comic book pages of Mirage Studios’ Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) way back in 1984 to spinning successful big-screen tent-poles, Nickelodeon’s TMNT has come a long way through. After last year’s live-action steamroller Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014) raked in over $485 million at the box-office world-wide, it took no time for the makers to roll out another sequel.
Helmed by David Green, the sequel, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Half Shell is slated for a 2016 release and while its production has kick-started, the action-flick is all out garnering attention over its loaded star-cast. After the hit TV-show Arrow lead, Stephen Amell was cast as Casey Jones, the on-boarding star cast for TMNT-2 gets just crazier especially with a truckload of baddies taking on the crime-fighting Ninja turtles.
The most recent addition to the list is the WWE red-haired Irish lad Sheamus, who has been roped in to play Rocksteady. While his role has yet to be officially confirmed, Sheamus spilled the beans by posting a picture to Twitter of him posing with Gary Anthony Williams playing the other half of the dumb-witted duo, Bebop. Designed by Peter Laird, Bebop and Rocksteady play the evil henchmen of Shredder in the Ninja Turtles comic universe. Rocksteady was originally a human Russian arms dealer but mutated into a white rhinoceros while Bepot was a professional thief and gets mutated to a warthog. The 2014 TMNT produced by more than a few studios crafted the mutated big, green ninja turtles in a highly realistic way using the latest CGI tech at their disposal coupled with trained martial artists using the Motion-capture technology. With more mutated characters from the Ninja Turtles space coming alive on the big-screen, fans can only marvel at what can be expected of Sheamus as Rocksteady and Gary as Bebop.
Others confirmed for the sequel include Brian Tee taking over the evil reins from Tohoru Masamune as Shredder and Mirelly Taylor, whose role in the film still remains unclear. Rumors are wild that Shredder would be returning for a meaty chunk in the sequel alongside an alien villain named Krang. Joining the bandwagon is Brittany Ishibashi, who according to reports would be playing Shredder’s daughter and Foot Clan leader Karai.
Reprising their roles from the original – Megan Fox stars as crime-fighting turtle’s ally April O’Neil along with William Fichtner as the evil CEO Eric Sacks.
