How did Splinter survive?

[neatoman]

How Splinter survived? He's too iconic to die in the first movie, that's why Shredder was implied to have survived. Maybe they'll die later on but never the in the first.

Character they might drop in the sequels are Vern, Thompson and Karai (though she's the least likely to be dropped of those three). I know Fichtner claims to have signed on for more movies, so I'm guessing Sacks will play a part in the sequels somehow.