A brand-new teaser trailer for Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has been revealed ahead of the cartoon's August 9th debut. And the new footage reveals that Metalhead—a beloved, mechanical "5th Turtle"—will be making his appearance.
Metalhead had earlier appearances in both the animated series from 2012 and the iconic '80s cartoon. The character made his comic book debut in the 2014 IDW TMNT series, in issue 34, which takes place during the Monsters, Misfits, and Madmen narrative arc.
In the action figure community, in particular, Metalhead has been a fan favorite since its introduction back in the '80s.
The animated series will pick up from where the 2023 animated feature film, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (directed by Jeff Rowe and written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg) left off. The reimagining of the TMNT mythos grossed $180.5 million worldwide on a production budget of $70 million.
While the film didn't perform as well at the box office as initially anticipated, Paramount is soldiering on with this new version of the Turtles, with plans that include an animated film sequel that will feature the Shredder. The sequel will open in theaters on October 9, 2026.
From Nickelodeon Animation and Point Grey Pictures, Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is executive produced by Chris Yost (The Mandalorian) and Alan Wan (Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles).
Production is overseen for Nickelodeon by Claudia Spinelli, Senior Vice President of Big Kids Animation and Nikki Price, Director of Development and Executive in Charge of Production.
Paramount+ will begin streaming Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on August 10. The show will mark the first time that a 2D Nicktoon will premiere on Paramount+ first.
Flying Bark Productions, who animated the film, will also be handling production duties on the series.
Paramount has confirmed that the first season will consist of 12 episodes.
Actors Micah Abbey (Donatello), Shamon Brown Jr. ( Michelangelo), Brady Noon (Raphael), Nicolas Cantu (Leonardo), and Ayo Edebiri reprise their roles from Mutant Mayhem.
Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Synopsis: The Turtles will be challenged like never before as Leo, Raph, Donnie, and Mikey each go it alone for the first time. Face with new threats and teaming up with allies old and new, the Turtles will discover who they really are when they don't have their brothers at their sides.