Platinum Dunes and Paramount Pictures have brought on Alan Ritchson to play the sai-wielding Raphael in the upcoming Ninja Turtles reboot.

We reported last month that Megan Fox is playing the female lead, although it still has not been confirmed if she is playing the intrepid reporter April O'Neil, or a different character.

Unlike the 1990 original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the actors portraying the title characters will use state-of-the-art performance capture technology similar to Avatar, instead of wearing bulky turtle suits.

Jonathan Liebesman (Wrath of the Titans, Battle: Los Angeles) is directing from a screenplay by Josh Appelbaum, André Nemec, Matt Holloway, and Art Marcum. We reported in January that production will begin this April in New York City.

Alan Ritchson plays the District 1 tribute Gloss in this fall's The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. He also played Aquaman on The CW's Smallville and Thad Castle on Blue Mountain State.