Last month, the first cast member of Jonathan Liebesman and Michael Bay’s ‘Ninja Turtles’ was announced and it came as quite as a surprise to everyone. Despite differences with Bay in the past, Megan Fox was confirmed to star in the live action-CG hybrid reboot of ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ as the heroes’ human companion April O’Neil. Since then, we were in the dark about who would take up the mantles of the Heroes In A Half-Shell, but now it appears that the filmmakers are outsourcing to Panem for roles in the film.
Alan Ritchson in ‘Smallville’According to Deadline, Alan Ritchson, who will be seen as Gloss in the upcoming film, ‘The Hunger Games: Catching Fire’, has become the first turtle to join the cast. The dangerous tribute from District One will be playing Raphael, the aggressive sai-weilding warrior with an affinity for red. Unlike the previous live-action iteration of the Mirage Comics series, Ritchson and his turtle brethren will be motion captured and will be CG creations interacting in real environments.
Ritchson is no stranger to comic book style action. Previously, he played Arthur Curry AKA Aquaman in ‘Smallville’. Since then, he’s been in shows like ‘90210’ and ‘Blue Mountain State’. After landing a role in ‘Catching Fire’ and now ‘Ninja Turtles’, it’s possible that he’s taking really well to the transition from the small screen to the big one.
Now that we have our first Ninja Turtle, the other three shouldn’t be too far behind, as well as names to fill the roles of Master Splinter and Shredder, given that Bay kept them in that is. The team behind ‘Ninja Turtles’ has already come under fire for taking the “teenage” and the “mutant” elements out of the story, so who really knows how much will stay faithful to the original story that fans grew up with? Well, April O’Neil is a good start, but that won’t be enough to appease the masses. We’ll discover how things actually turn out when the film hits theaters in 2014.
What do you think of Alan Ritchson landing the role of Raphael? Think he’ll be able to top Sean Astin from the 2012 animated series? And who do think are good candidates for the other Ninja Turtles? Let us know what you think in the comments.
‘Ninja Turtles’ hits theaters on June 6, 2014.