New 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' Animated Voice Cast Includes Sean Astin And Jason Biggs

The time has come to really re-launch the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. A new movie is in development at Paramount and Platinum Dunes (Josh Appelbaum and Andre Nemec were just hired to rewrite it) and Nickelodeon will air a new animated show starting in the fall of 2012. Now we've got the voice cast for the quartet. Sean Astin will voice red-masked, sai-wielding Raphael, and he reveals that Rob Paulsen, who voiced Raphael in the original '90s animated series, will voice Donatello. Jason Biggs will be Leonardo, and Greg Cipes (Ben 10) is Michelangelo.

In addition to those bits of info, Sean Astin told EW,

These people who are doing [the new show], man, they are so fired up. They know they have something that people love, and that they're getting a different crack at it. The producers recognize how much the fans of Ninja Turtles expect from the new show. With the new show, you'll have one of two reactions: People will be fired up and excited, or people will be really skeptical. And the people who are fired up, you don't want to disappoint them. And the people who are skeptical, you want to turn them.

He also says the characters will have less of an exaggerated SoCal surfer accent:

I don't think it's [adopts a perfect 'Bill and Ted' impression] "Dude, how you doin', dude!" It's just not quite as intense. A little bit more refined. They've got a slightly better education, maybe. More refined chemicals.

Though the new show doesn't hit for over a year, a preview will be shown at the San Diego Comic Con next month, so we might have some footage to share soon.