Just announced for a Christmas Day, 2013 release last week, Platinum Dunes’ Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is set to feature a very non-traditional origin for its reptilian heroes. In fact, producer Michael Bay hints that the turtles may not be mutants at all.

Word arrives via Stuff We Like and a video of Bay speaking at last week’s Nickelodeon Upfront in New York where he states:

“When you see this movie, kids are going to believe, one day, that these turtles actually do exist when we are done with this movie. These turtles are from an alien race and they are going to be tough, edgy, funny and completely lovable.”

To be directed by Jonathan Liebesman, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will feature a script from Josh Appelbaum, Andrew Nemec, Art Marcum, Matt Holloway and John Fusco.

The franchise, which began as a black and white comic book series in 1984, rose to tremendous popularity when it became an animated series in 1987. Following the first live-action film in 1990, the series spawned two live-action sequels, a live-action television series, a second animated series and a CGI feature film.