‘TMNT’: William Fichtner Lands Major Role

William Fichtner has landed a major role in TMNT, or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!

It all started in the sewers, where an outcast ninja master was forced to live before a vial of mutagen got unceremoniously dumped almost right in his lap. The man who would come to be known as Master Splinter found his pet turtles playing around in the mystery ooze and tried to rescue them, only to discover that contact with the substance was enough to transform any living creature halfway into the last living creature it came in contact with. The turtles mutated into half-human hybrids, while Master Splinter was turned halfway into a rat. The old Master trained the turtles in the only way he knew, and they became the teenage mutant ninja turtles.

Now the villain, on the other hand, has always been the Shredder, also known as Oroku Saki. This is where William Fichtner comes in.

Yes, TMNT fans, William Fichtner has been cast as the Shredder in Michael Bay’s upcoming remake.

There has been lots of speculation as to what role William Fichtner would play in the film for some time, as the guesses ran the gamut of human (or humanoid) characters, from Baxter Stockman to Casey Jones. Fichtner himself confirmed that he would be the Shredder in an interview with Huffington Post Canada, “I play Shredder. It is cool. It’s one of those things that came along where I thought, ‘Really? Let me think about this for a minute.’ Then I was like, ‘Yeah, OK, this sounds like a journey.’ I’m very glad that it worked out, I’m really glad that I’m doing it.”

Of course this could upset a lot of long-standing fans of the franchise, who know that Oroku Saki was always Japanese, and William Fichtner is obviously Caucasian. Will Michael Bay use makeup effects like they did with Robert Downey Jr. in Tropic Thunder, or will he always have his mask on? Is Michael Bay planning on just making the Shredder white?

TMNT will star Megan Fox, Alan Ritchson, Pete Ploszek, Jeremy Howard, Noel Fisher, Will Arnett, Danny Woodburn and William Fichtner. The film is set to hit theaters June 6, 2014.

What do you think of William Fichtner being cast as the Shredder in TMNT? Who do you think should have been cast in the role?