Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is now in theaters, and in addition to the Heroes in a Half-Shell themselves, the Seth Rogen-produced animated reboot introduces new interpretations of several classic supporting characters, including the team's human friend and main link to the world above, April O'Neil.
Now, concept artist James A. Castillo has shared some of his alternate designs for the fearless reporter, and while it seems this take on April was always going to be around the same age and build, several different hairstyles and outfit choices were considered.
There have been some criticisms that O'Neil was "racebended" solely for diversity's sake, but the character was originally conceived as Asian, and other incarnations have been described as mixed race by co-creator Kevin Eastman. April was also depicted as a Black woman in the Rise of the TMNT animated series.
Check out the artwork below.
“After years of being sheltered from the human world, the Turtle brothers set out to win the hearts of New Yorkers and be accepted as normal teenagers through heroic acts. Their new friend April O’Neil helps them take on a mysterious crime syndicate, but they soon get in over their heads when an army of mutants is unleashed upon them.”
Micah Abbey, Shamon Brown Jr., Nicolas Cantu and Brady Noon will voice the roles of Donatello, Michelangelo, Leonardo and Raphael, respectively. The cast also includes Jackie Chan as Splinter, Hannibal Buress as Genghis Frog, Rose Byrne as Leatherhead, Ice Cube as Superfly, Natasia Demetriou as Wingnut, Ayo Edebiri as April O’Neil, Giancarlo Esposito as Baxter Stockman, Post Malone as Ray Fillet, Paul Rudd as Mondo Gecko, and Maya Rudolph as Cynthia Utrom.
Jeff Rowe (The Mitchells vs. the Machines) directed Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, which is produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg.