**Spoilers** If you haven't been watching the Nickelodeon TMNT reboot series than stop reading now if you care about what happens.
We warned you, but you're still reading so here it goes. At the end of season 3 of Nickelodoen's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot, we saw one of the most gut wrenching scenes in cartoon history. The Turtles, along with April O'neil, Casey Jones, Splinter, and the Mutanimals teamed up with their most dreaded enemy; Shredder and his crew, in order to save the world. The Krang had reinvaded Earth unbeknownst to the Turtles; but, the Triceratons were aimed to destroy the Krang by ending the Earth.
The Turtles, along with their new helpers, needed to team up in order to try and save the Earth. Just as it looked like they were once again going to succeed and Splinter was about to shut off the black hole generator set to destroy Earth, the unthinkable happened. Shredder betrayed Splinter and stabbed him through the back with his claw. Splinter dropped and his eyes closed just as the black hole generator went off. Shredder, true to himself to the very end, stated that he did not care the Earth was ending as he finally had his revenge. The black hole formed and destroyed the Earth and the Turtles were only saved by a new alien ally.
Live at NYCC today, we attended the Nickelodeon TMNT panel with voice actors Seth Green (Leonardo), Rob Paulsen (Donatello), Greg Cipes (Michelangelo), Hoon Lee (Splinter) and Eric Bauza (Tigher Claw). During the panel, the show's Executive Producers Ciro Nieli and Bradon Auman confirmed that Splinter will no longer be training the Turtles as he has officially passed on. Let that sink in a minute – Splinter. Is. Dead.
The new season debuts October 25th on Nick, but we had a chance to see it early during today's panel. Some familiar faces, including Corey Feldman as Slash, will be voicing this season's characters such as
- Sal Commander – Keith David (Arbiter in Halo, Admiral Anderson Mass Effect)
- 1980's Krang – Pat Fraley, original voice actor
- Armaggon the robo shark – Ron Perlman (Hellboy)
- Mona Lisa, Salamandarian warrior – Zelda Williams
Season 4 will comprise of 26 episodes. As much as I love TMNT and watching it since the age of 8 when it debuted in 1987, I'm not sure how I feel about killing off Splinter.
RIP Hamato Yoshi, 1987-2015