Brad Garrett Replaces Fred Armisen As Krang in Out of the Shadows

For those who weren’t aware, it was reported a few months ago that Fred Armisen would be providing the voice of Krang in the new movie Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows. Unfortunately, Armisen’s role was never confirmed with Paramount and we are now being told that he may never have been signed on for the film. Instead of Armisen, it would appear that veteran actor Brad Garrett will be taking on the role of Krang. I’d love to say that this might still be a rumor, but we actually have photographic evidence proving the potential legitimacy of the story.

Brad Garrett is a fantastic actor with a lot of street cred. He has performed a lot of voice acting throughout his career, including roles in films such as Finding Nemo and Ratatouille. However, he never really did anything fancy with his voice in these roles, instead electing to just provide his own natural voice for each character. This might be a problem for some fans, because he has a characteristically low voice that one could almost describe as velvety smooth. If there is one character in all of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles lore who does not have a smooth, baritone voice, it is Krang.

Brad Garrett at Adrenaline Studios reading lines for Krang from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows. Source: Adrenaline Studios.

To be fair, we have no way of knowing whether or not Brad will elect to stretch his acting muscles and truly recreate the Krang voice that we are all familiar with. Sadly, his history in the business would seem to indicate that this might not be the case, and we might have to expect the new Krang to have a much different voice. The very thought of this disappoints me, because I know that a lot of fans are going to be turned off by a version of the Utrom leader that doesn’t quite sound right. This is not to say that Garrett isn’t a good actor – he is absolutely fantastic – I’m just not sure that he’s right for this role.

This casting has been all but confirmed with Adrenaline Studios, where Brad Garrett recorded his lines, so it’s a safe bet that this is what we will be hearing when the movie releases in two weeks. I’ll reserve my judgment until the film actually comes out, but this news has definitely left me a little bit worried about what we can expect from Krang in Out of the Shadows. I really do enjoy Garrett’s work, so I’ll have to hear what he came up with for this role before making a judgment call about whether or not this was a bad decision. Remember shellheads: always watch the movie before criticizing it! (and yes, that goes for everyone who is unhappy with those Ghostbusters trailers as well)