The TMNT movie spin-off show is inspired by Superbad and honors the original comics in a unique way

Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
(Image credit: Paramount+)

Back in 2023, Paramount announced a spin-off series to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem that would see the heroes in half-shell return for Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on Paramount Plus.

Now, as executive producer Chris Yost tells Total Film in our new issue out on Thursday, July 19, which features Alien: Romulus on the cover, there is a surprise inspiration for the upcoming summer show.

"I watched a lot of Superbad, really, more or less, to get the voice," says Yost of the 2007 teen comedy classic, starring Jonah Hill and Michael Cera. "We watched the movie over and over."

Picking up where Mutant Mayhem left off, after Superfly buzzed his way through a trail of destruction in New York, Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are framed as the comic-book doodlings of Leonardo, harking back to the Turtles’ roots as comic-book characters precisely 40 years ago.

"We always try to honour the comics, because that’s where it all came from," says Yost. "Forty years later, here we are, telling these stories."

Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

(Image credit: Paramount+)

In an exclusive image, which you can see above, the four turtles are all seen in a flurry of explosions and chaos, fittingly saving the day.

Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles streams on Paramount Plus from August 10. And you can read more about it and a whole lot else besides in the new issue of Total Film when it hits shelves and digital newsstands on Thursday, July 19.

Check out the covers below:

The xenomorph on the cover of Total Film's Alien: Romulus issue

(Image credit: 20th Century Studios/Disney)

Pre-order the issue here to bag your copy or click here to subscribe to Total Film and never miss another exclusive. You’ll get every issue before it's in stores and you’ll get subscriber-exclusive covers. 

Total Film subscriber offer

(Image credit: Total Film/20th Century Studios/Disney/Marvel Studios/Warner Bros/Prime Video/Universal)
Matt Maytum
Editor, Total Film

I'm the Editor at Total Film magazine, overseeing the running of the mag, and generally obsessing over all things Nolan, Kubrick and Pixar. Over the past decade I've worked in various roles for TF online and in print, including at GamesRadar+, and you can often hear me nattering on the Inside Total Film podcast. Bucket-list-ticking career highlights have included reporting from the set of Tenet and Avengers: Infinity War, as well as covering Comic-Con, TIFF and the Sundance Film Festival.

Read more
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Practice your ninjitsu because the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are coming to protect the Castle Panic board game
Key art for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown
TMNT rocks Steam Next Fest with the snappiest, slickest tactics RPG I've ever played
The Biker Mice From Mars.
Oni Press's new Biker Mice From Mars comic will take a "hard-hitting approach to the stories" and "definitely won't pull any punches"
The SilverHawks line up.
39 years after its final animated episode, cult cartoon SilverHawks is back in a new comic that writer Ed Brisson calls "The Untouchables in space"
Cobra Kai
The Cobra Kai cast was never worried about skepticism from diehard Karate Kid fans: “The franchise as a whole has been completely behind us”
Ralph Macchio in Cobra Kai
Ralph Macchio talks “paying the legacy forward” in the new Karate Kid movie: “It’s been the gift that keeps on giving”
Latest in Animation Shows
Captain Planet #1
Captain Planet is back after 33 years with a "sexy" makeover and a message that's as important as ever: "Reality has gotten a lot less subtle"
Solar Opposites
Popular animated series Solar Opposites will end with season 6 marking an "unforgettable farewell"
Demona confronting Goliath, Brooklyn, Lexington, and Angela
Gargoyles creator Greg Weisman digs into why Demona is the "single most dangerous character" in the entire franchise ahead of her new solo comic
Bugs Bunny
Warner Bros. removes nearly 40 years of Looney Tunes shorts from streaming service Max, a year after the studio canned Coyote vs. Acme
Invincible season 3 ending
Invincible season 3 post-credits scene is a tease for a hellish comic storyline adaptation that Robert Kirkman "never got around to doing"
Invincible season 3 ending
Invincible fans are reeling from the season 3 finale, calling it the best episode of the Amazon show and some of the best animated TV ever
Latest in News
Batman looking over the city during Batman: Arkham City, one of the best PS3 games.
The PS2 Batman Begins game was considered such a "disaster" that Christopher Nolan turned down a Dark Knight-inspired game
Assassin's Creed Shadows Naoe assassinating target with Tanto skill
Assassin's Creed Shadows' first title update is a hotfix with three lines of patch notes and a download size up to 9GB
a victory screen showing someone in a day of the dead mask and another who is an old man looking sad
GeoGuessr is coming to Steam and you can go head-to-head to prove you're the best geographer of them all
Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines 2
Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 "is done," but it's been delayed again to October for "bug fixing, stability, and performance"
Ben Affleck in Air
Ben Affleck isn't in The Odyssey, but he plans to visit the set anyway to watch Christopher Nolan work: "He's one of the greatest filmmaking architects to ever live"
GTA 6 trailer screenshots showing lucia in an interview room
"GTA 6 is basically a huge meteor, and we will just stay clear of the blast zone": Publishers are in a frenzy over when to release their games to avoid Rockstar