Last year when we first heard the initial casting for the Turtles in Paramount’s upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot, the news was not seen as particularly exciting or relevant. They had chosen four relative unknowns to do the performance capture for the main heroes (Pete Ploszek as Leonardo, Jeremy Howard as Donatello, Alan Ritchson as Raphael, and Noel Fisher as Michelangelo) but it was unclear if those actors would also be voicing the characters in the final film. A few of them did have some decent credits to their name, most notably Alan Ritchson who had previously played Aquaman in Smallville. However, this week we have confirmation that they will be bringing in some bigger name actors to do the voices… at least for a few of the characters, anyway. The first two voice actors to be announced are Jackass frontman Johnny Knoxville and former Monk star Tony Shalhoub.

According to Deadline, Johnny Knoxville has signed on to voice Leonardo, the defacto leader of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, while Tony Shalhoub will provide the voice for their Sensei, Master Splinter. It’s worth noting that Leonardo was performed on camera by Pete Ploszek, who had the least amount of acting experience in the group. On the other hand, Splinter was performed by Danny Woodburn (Seinfeld, Mirror Mirror) who is a little more well-known.

Knoxville seems like a bit of a strange choice for Leonardo, especially if he keeps his trademark southern drawl. In the past, Leonardo has usually been portrayed as the most serious and least quirky member of the group. Either way, we don’t know if there are still going to be more voice actors announced, but I’m curious to know if Noel Fisher did the voice for Michelangelo in the trailer. What do you think, is this good news or is this just further proof that the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will be a train wreck?