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Although there have been rumors about the eventual demise of Nickelodeon’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, nothing had been officially confirmed until now. In a tweet from the official TMNT account owned by Nickelodeon, they announced that there would be an entirely new TMNT series coming in 2018. After being pressed on the issue, they confirmed that Season 5 would be the final season for the current animated series, stating that there are still 20 episodes left which will air throughout 2017.

It’s definitely sad to hear that one of the greatest interpretations of our heroes in a half shell has been cancelled, but at least they have plans to replace it with something a little different. The initial tweet described a 2D cartoon which will replace the current CGI animated series, so we can probably expect a somewhat different look for the turtles. The current working title for this project is “Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” and it will be co-executive produced by Andy Suriano & Ant Ward.

Suriano is a well known name in the business, having worked on such shows as Samurai Jack, The Powerpuff Girls and The Fairly OddParents. Ward may be more familiar as a producer for none other than Nickelodeon’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It’s clear that they are going to take an alternative approach to the TMNT, but we still don’t know exactly what that will look like. What we do know so far is that they have at least chosen two excellent creative minds to work on Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Unfortunately, Nickelodeon hasn’t provided any other details about their plans for the future of this franchise. As such, we are left wondering if any additional talent from the current animated series will be carried over into this cartoon. For a lot of fans, these voice actors have pretty much become the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, so it would be sad to see them replaced for the new 2D animated series. I’m sure most of us would also like to see the writers and creators behind Nick’s TMNT take on some kind of role with this project.

Sadly, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens next with Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. While we’re waiting, we still have 20 more episodes of the CGI animated series to watch. According to Playmates Toys, the last season will be split up into 4 story archs over the course of 2017. One of these “Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” has already begun with Super Shredder’s appearance. Additional plans include a samurai adventure including Usagi Yojimbo, a narrative where the turtles turn into classic monsters, and a short 3-episode story featuring Bebop and Rocksteady.

When I heard that Nickelodeon might cancel the current show, I was left wondering what they were thinking. Given the success of the series, it was confusing to hear such substantiated rumors about the potential cancellation of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Now that the truth has been revealed, it’s clear that they had a plan to continue working with this franchise all along. Needless to say, I’m very happy to see that the network didn’t just ditch one of their biggest properties!