Krang Confirmed For ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows’

It is a very divisive time to be a fan of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. While Nickelodeon is currently airing the fan-favourite animated reboot (which has recently been renewed for a fifth season), Michael Bay’s modernized film adaptation received significantly less praise.

2014’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was a mixed bag of questionable acting, poor writing and some incredibly obvious last minute script re-writes. However, it could be argued that the spirit of the original animated series that made the characters pop culture icons remained intact. Although Michael Bay has more than a few detractors, his cartoonish style and preference for over-the-top action is certainly suited for a story about four giant turtles lead by a giant rat in the sewers of New York city.

With nearly $500 Million at the worldwide box office, it’s clear that Bay’s guiding hand as a producer holds far more weight than previously expected. Now, the sequel Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows hits theatres later this year and surprisingly seems to be shaping up quite nicely.

After the entertaining first trailer was released last month fans and general moviegoers have now started to re-evaluate their excitement for the film. As someone who had little interest in the sequel, it is interesting to see that it seems to have shifted gears to a more acceptable level of Summer Blockbuster entertainment. The insertion of fan favourite characters such as Casey Jones (played by Arrow‘s Stephen Amell) and Bebop and Rocksteady, as well as new and improved Shredder, seems to have injected new life into the franchise.

Now, it seems that another character from the original series will be making his way to the big screen. In a recent interview with Bay it has now been revealed (via Rolling Stone) that Krang will make an appearance in the film. Check out the segment below:

Bay picks up one of his landlines and calls his office in Santa Monica. “Hey, I gotta talk to ILM. Can you have ’em hook up?” Industrial Light & Magic, the visual-effects company, is where Bay had his first summer job, filing storyboards for Raiders of the Lost Ark when he was 15. Now he’s one of the company’s biggest clients. While he waits, he drops onto his stomach on the carpet to demonstrate how he likes to do color timing. “I like to get up close,” he says, inching toward the monitor. The ILM guys appear onscreen. “Hey, Michael?” one says into the camera. “Are you crawling around on the floor?”

Bay turns around. “Oh, hey.” He stands up. “So, what do we got?”

They start with Ninja Turtles animation. Pablo Helman, a visual-effects supervisor who worked on the Star Wars prequels, appears onscreen and shows Bay the latest version of Krang, a new-to-the-movies villain who is, essentially, a disembodied brain inside a giant robot. “So we’ve eliminated the tentacles,” Helman explains. “Is it too monster-ish?”

“He could have some tentacles,” says Bay. “I just don’t want them coming out of the side. He looks like a stupid octopus.”

How Krang will appear in live action form will definitely be an interesting sight. Although it will almost certainly drum up a huge amount of fan contention and discussion given the popularity of the character. Either way, things seem to be looking good for the heroes in the half shell so far.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows will be released in the UK on 3rd June.