Lots of kids dig John Cena and Nickelodeon, so they’re likely to dig this: The pro wrestler-turned-actor and Viacom cable net are teaming up for three projects this year, one of which is his hosting the annual Kids Choice Awards for a second time
Nick said today that, along with fronting the 2018 trophy show/slimefest on March 24, Cena will voice the villainous new character Baron Draxum in Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, a new toon series due late this year. He also is executive producing Keep It Spotless, a new competition series in which teams of kids go head-to-head in a battle to stay clean.
Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Cena’s Baron Draxum is an alchemist warrior mutant who seeks to turn all of humanity into mutants. The recurring character will appear in the premiere episode and throughout the series, which follows the familiar band of masked brothers as they encounter new mutants and villains and discover a mystical world they never knew existed beneath the streets of New York City.
The new series is co-executive produced by Andy Suriano and Ant Ward and voice-directed by veteran voice actor Rob Paulsen.
Keep It Spotless will feature kids competing in a variety of physical and paint-filled challenges designed with one goal in mind: to stay as clean as possible. After each game, a 360-degree scanner will measure each teams’ mess to determine just how clean they really are. The winning team will face The Gauntlet, a multiple-challenge obstacle course where they can turn their cleanliness into cash. The series is produced by ITV Entertainment and Hard Nocks South, based on a UK format from Possessed.
Cena is busy with a number of non-Nick projects as well. He is onscreen as the voice of the gentle-giant title bull in Ferdinand and appears in the Mark Wahlberg-Will Ferrell sequel Daddy’s Home 2. He also had a role in last year’s feature The Wall and in Psych: The Movie, which aired last month on USA Network, and continues to be a presence on USA’s wrestling show WWE Raw.
Other upcoming projects include the 2018 features Blockers and Bumblebee, and Cena also is attached to star opposite The Big Sick and Silicon Valley‘s Kumail Nanjiani in Universal’s untitled buddy-cop comedy.
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