The CW’s Powerpuff pilot, featuring dark, older versions of The Powerpuff Girls, was not ordered to series, but the network didn’t abandon the idea completely. Instead, a new pilot was ordered and in May, it looked as though everyone involved with the first pilot would remain attached.
However, Chloe Bennet, who was cast to portray Blossom, the leader of the PPGs, has now departed the project. Reportedly, The CW offered her an extension as it was reworking the pilot, but Bennet had a scheduling conflict.
Powerpuff also starred Dove Cameron as Bubbles and Yana Perrault as Buttercup, plus Donald Faison as Professor Drake Utonium, Nicholas Podany as the villain Joseph “Jojo” Mondel Jr., and Robyn Lively as Sara Bellum. At this time, they remain attached.
Back in May, CW Chairman & CEO Mark Pedowitz said:
“Sometimes things miss, and this was just a miss. We believe in the cast completely, we believe in Diablo [Cody] and Heather [Regnier], the writers, and we believe in the auspices of [executive producer] Greg Berlanti and Warner [Bros.] Studios. In this case, the pilot didn’t work. But because we see enough elements in there, we’re going to give it another shot. We didn’t want to go forward with what we had.”
More recently, in a conversation with Comicbook.com, Cameron dodged questions about reshooting the Powerpuff pilot.
“I can’t tell you that! We are going back, we are reshooting, we are taking a slightly different approach tonally. It’s one of those things where you don’t want to get it wrong and it’s very easy to get it wrong. In the same way that everyone from an outsider’s perspective is like, ‘How are you gonna do that?’ We’re figuring that out. We want to get it right for us and for the fans. We really loved what we got but we also just think we could it a little bit closer to what we have in mind. I’ll keep you posted.”
Most fans of the original Cartoon Network Powerpuff Girls series weren’t keen on a grown-up, sexed-up version to begin with. Even with a new pilot, there’s no guarantee that Powerpuff will ever make it to television. Then again, many were apprehensive of Riverdale and that became a massive hit. (Before it quickly went off the rails.)
Check back for updates on Powerpuff as they arrive.
