The CW passed on the live-action version of The Powerpuff Girls but hasn’t shut the project down entirely. The series, simply called “Powerpuff,” has apparently been a bit difficult to make into reality. The pilot has been filming since April, but while The CW apparently wasn’t happy with the outcome, it isn’t abandoning it. The series will be reworked and “repiloted,” meaning it will likely scrap the existing footage and film a new version. (The network did a similar reboot with its planned program based on The Lost Boys, but didn’t order either version to series.)
Powerpuff picks up with the Cartoon Network favorites in their twenties, and they are a little bitter that their childhoods were so consumed with saving the world (or at least Townsville). Chloe Bennet, Dove Cameron, and Yana Perrault were cast as Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup, respectively. Donald Faison was to portray their father/creator, Professor Drake Utonium. The villain of the series would have been played by Nicholas Podany as the human son (?!) of Mojo Jojo, Joseph “Jojo” Mondel, Jr. In addition, Robin Lively was set to play Sara Bellum, who, in the cartoon, was the Mayor’s assistant, whose face was never shown. Tom Kenny (a.k.a. Spongebob Squarepants) was hired to narrate the series. Diablo Cody and Heather Regnier wrote the pilot and were attached as executive producers.
It sounds as though the cast may remain intact. According to Channing Dungey, the president of Warner Bros. TV Group (via Deadline):
“We’ve got a trio of terrific actresses at the center of that. I’m not going to say that it hasn’t been a challenge. Bringing a children’s cartoon into live-action adulthood has been a really fine line to walk, but I think we’ve done a pretty great job walking it.”
The CW did order two other new shows from Warner Bros. TV Group– Naomi, based on a DC Comics character, and All-American: Homecoming.
Even though the cast seems solid, it appears that The CW felt the show as a whole just wasn’t coming together the way it wanted.
Check back to see if the reshot pilot fares any better!
