Though it saw a pretty hefty release setback this year, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem 2 has made major progress behind the scenes, says director Jeff Rowe. The follow-up to the 2023 animated action comedy was announced just prior to the first film’s release, which went on to become the best-reviewed adaptation of the Turtles franchise and a modest box office success.

While plot details have been kept under wraps, Mutant Mayhem‘s ending confirmed that iconic antagonist Shredder would be the primary villain of the sequel. With Rowe back at the helm and joined by prior co-director Kyler Spears and production designer Yashar Kassai as co-directors, the next Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie was slated for an October 2026 release, only to be delayed by nearly a full year to a September 2027 debut.

Now, in a recent interview with ScreenRant‘s Grant Hermanns for the franchise’s surprise 2025 installment Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Chrome Alone 2 — Lost in New Jersey, Rowe offered an update on Mutant Mayhem 2. Saying the sequel is in a “good” state, the director revealed that the team “just did a whole work-in-progress screening,” which he feels was “extremely well-received.”

Though acknowledging that there is “work to be done” for the TMNT sequel and “things to improve,” Rowe expressed his feeling that the movie is “on the right track” and that the team “have found” their in with the film. Now, Rowe says, Mutant Mayhem 2 is “starting to shift out of creating and into executing,” with plenty of work to be done in order to “deliver things at the bar that we want,” including “with an updated kind of look” from the acclaimed first film.

Upon the mention of Mutant Mayhem‘s mid-credits scene involving Shredder, Rowe laughed as he offered “advice for future filmmakers” to not “put tags like that in your film.” As the director admitted, doing so means “paint[ing] yourself into corners” and ends up costing a creative team “two years of trying to figure that one out.”

Rowe’s update on Mutant Mayhem 2‘s progress not only comes after the movie’s big release delay a year prior, but also as the franchise is undergoing some major changes. Having spent years trying to find the right way to do so, Paramount recently confirmed development on a new live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie from Sonic the Hedgehog producer Neal H. Moritz, which also has a November 2028 release. This also led to the previously announced R-rated Last Ronin adaptation being put on indefinite hold for said reboot.

Every Upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Movie

There are several different Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies in various stages of development. Here’s what we know about each upcoming film.

Much to Rowe’s point, bringing Shredder into the fold for Mutant Mayhem 2 is no small feat for expanding the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise. The villain was set up as being hired by Maya Rudolph’s Cynthia Utrom to recapture the Turtles for her, but given how iconic he is to the wider lore of the heroes, his rise to a bigger power is one that would need to be handled deftly to live up to fan expectations.

Between the upcoming theatrical release of Chrome Alone 2 and the major progress being made on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem 2, though, fans of the 2023 film should take plenty of assurance that the animated side of the franchise doesn’t look to be going anywhere any time soon. Furthermore, the longer wait for the sequel’s release could see Rowe and his team laying the groundwork for quicker follow-ups in the way that Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arrived a year after its predecessor.