Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV

For other uses, see Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV (disambiguation).

For other entries in the franchise, see Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (disambiguation).

Not to be confused with Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV [1]
Directed by	Steve Barron
Written by	Steve Barron Craig Shapiro John Travis
Based on	Characters by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird
Produced by	Thomas K. Gray Kim Dawson David Chan
Starring	Elias Koteas Paige Turco Vivian Wu Sab Shimono Stuart Wilson
Production company	Golden Harvest
Distributed by	New Line Cinema

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV (or The Next Mutation) is a cancelled 1994 superhero film based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles characters created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. ^[2] It would've been directed by Steve Barron and written by Craig Shapiro and John Travis, being the fourth sequel to the original Turtles film trilogy, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze (1991), and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (1993). It also would've starred Elias Koteas, Paige Turco, Vivian Wu, Sab Shimono, and Stuart Wilson with the voices of Brian Tochi, Robbie Rist, Adam Carl, and Tim Kelleher. The plot would have revolved around the Turtles getting new powers, and they would also get a new turtle added named "Kirby", ^[a] and April O'Neil turns evil and marries Casey Jones, teaming up with the Turtles nemesis the Shredder. ^[3]

Two writers, Christian Ford and Roger Soffer wrote a screenplay was called the "Untitled Screenplay" for another name The Foot Walks Again, in which both Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird thought the idea of changing the Turtles backstories and characteristics sounded foolishly, but that it would've still given more interest in the characters. Once the New Line Cinema governor heard about the idea of a new Ninja Turtles movie, he stuck around for distribution until the attaining commercial failure of the other film began to take notice, so they decided to cancelled the "already planned out" film script, sceenplay, and act.

Planned plot

The "already planned out" plot had been discovered that the Ninja Turtles would've gotten mysterious power, with each turtle having a different one.

Notes

1. "Kirby" would've been the most hardcore turtle out of all the Turtles, according to multiple states of the cancelation.

References

1. Kennedy, Michael (2022-01-30). "Every Canceled TMNT Movie (& Why They Didn't Happen)". ScreenRant. Retrieved 2025-07-22.
2. "Why We Never Got That Fourth Live-Action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Movie". Collider. 2023-08-02. Retrieved 2025-07-22.
3. Chrysostomou, George (2023-03-29). "The Forgotten Fourth '90s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Movie". Den of Geek. Retrieved 2025-07-22.