While updates on the project have been scarce for many months now, Powerpuff — The CW’s planned live-action re-imagining of Cartoon Network’s The Powerpuff Girls — is reportedly still in development.
As part of the latest installment of his Inside Line feature, TVLine‘s Matt Webb Mitovich was asked if The CW was still moving forward with Powerpuff, or if the network had quietly killed the project. “I am assured that The CW’s live-action adaptation of the Powerpuff Girls, after coming in last spring “too campy” (and which definitely no longer costars Chloe Bennet), is still in some stage of redevelopment,” Mitovich replied.
It was first reported in August 2020 that The CW was developing a live-action Powerpuff Girls reboot (later titled Powerpuff), with the show officially receiving a pilot order in February 2021. In March 2021, it was revealed that Chloe Bennett (Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), Dove Cameron (Descendants) and Yana Perrault had been cast in the lead roles of Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup, respectively. Later that month, Donald Faison (Scrubs, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow) was revealed to have been cast as the girls’ father, Professor Utonium.
In April 2021, Nicholas Podany joined Powerpuff‘s cast as Joseph ‘Jojo’ Mondel Jr., the son of Mojo Jojo, the Powerpuff Girls’ arch-nemesis from the original cartoon. Shortly thereafter, Robyn Lively was cast to play the role of Ms. Sara Bellum, while Tom Kenny was tapped to reprise his role as the cartoon’s narrator.
However, in May 2021, it came to light that the Powerpuff pilot had not been ordered to series, though the network still planned to retool the project with the same creative team and cast. As for why the pilot was scrapped, The CW’s CEO, Mark Pedowitz, said, “We believe in the cast completely. We believe in Diablo [Cody] and Heather [Regnier], the writers. We believe in the auspices of Greg Berlanti and Warner [Bros. TV] studios.”
Pedowitz continued, “In this case, the pilot didn’t work. But because we see there are enough elements in there, we wanted to give it another shot. So that’s why we didn’t want to go forward with what we had. Tonally, it might’ve felt a little too campy. It didn’t feel as rooted in reality as it might’ve felt. But again, you learn things when you test things out. And so in this case, we felt, let’s take a step back and go back to the drawing board.”
Around the same time, however, the original pilot’s script allegedly leaked online. The script was harshly criticized by fans of the original Powerpuff Girls cartoon, who did not agree with the direction the live-action adaptation was taking. For instance, the character of Professor Utonium — who was always portrayed as a loving, caring father — was re-imagined as being abusive, manipulative and fame-hungry. The show also evidently takes place in the aftermath of Blossom killing Mojo.
The CW’s Powerpuff was dealt another blow in August 2021, when it came to light that Bennet had departed the project. Since then, updates on the show — including who would replace Bennet as Blossom — have been virtually nonexistent. Nevertheless, according to Mitovich, Powerpuff is still being worked on to some extent.
Source: TVLine
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