Today in “Hey, this is actually a true thing that people talked about and then it really happened, and maybe it’s unfortunate that it has to be reported on April Fool’s Day” news, the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has cast its Casey Jones, as vaguely promised way back in December.
Variety reports that Arrow star Stephen Amell will play the hockey-mask-wearing vigilante in the new feature, where he will join returning stars Megan Fox and Will Arnett for more family-friendly heroes-in-a-halfshell fun.
Not much is known about the film—beyond, of course, all the imagery and nostalgia conjured up by its title—but the casting of Amell does speak to the possibility that we might also see Bebop and Rocksteady in this new outing, as their presence in the film was hinted alongside the rumor that the film would require a Casey Jones.
Interestingly enough, the outlet shares that “Amell tested with a half-dozen actors over the weekend, but it was his chemistry with Fox that led to the studio eventually giving the role to the star of CW’s Arrow.” Wait, so then who were those other actors? It’s unclear which of the actual turtles will be back for this new film—the 2014 reboot featured the motion-capture talents of Alan Ritchson, Noel Fisher, Pete Ploszek, Jeremy Howard, and Danny Woodburn, though Johnny Knoxville and Tony Shalhoub were quite memorably cast as the voices of Leonardo and Splinter, respectively, giving the film a sort of low-key casting kerfuffle—and the film has not made any official announcements about who will be playing those roles this time around. Are they recasting?
The film will be directed by David Green (Earth To Echo), with Josh Appelbaum and Andre Nemec returning to script this new outing.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 is reportedly currently filming and is due in theaters on June 3, 2016.