There's Only One Man Who Could Save the Turtles...

[Sage Ninja]

And for Next Mutation not being dark as Kevin hyped it to be, perhaps that was the plan but when Saban took ahold of the license he had to rework it to fit their particular campy style.

thats what I think probably happened with Kevin's TNM project. Imagine if he would have been able to deliver a live action tmnt tv series as gritty and mature as he planned it to be that was darker in tone than the actul movies. That would have been seriously badass, and probably what the franchise really needs than another cartoon or some fancy--shamancy CGI show.