For better or for worse, that live-action reboot of The Powerpuff Girls is no longer happening. Back in 2020, it was reported that the animated series was getting a reboot at The CW in the form of a live-action TV show. Donald Faison of Scrubs fame would later join the cast as Professor Drake Utonium alongside Chloe Bennet, Dove Cameron, and Yana Perrault as Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup. A pilot was shot, but in 2021, it was revealed that the network wasn't happy with the result. However, the reported plan was to retool the pilot and try again, and executive producer Greg Berlanti provided an optimistic update on its progress last year.
"I am assured that The CW’s live-action adaptation of The Powerpuff Girls, after coming in last spring 'too campy,' is still in some stage of redevelopment," Berlanti told TVLine.
Now, a new update from TVLine has revealed that the live-action Powerpuff Girls is officially dead in the water. The outlet has confirmed that the retooled pilot has been scrapped completely along with several other shows that were in early development. That includes the female-led Zorro series, the Arrowverse-set series Justice U, and another show called Jake Chang, based on the Archie Comics character. Developing them for the network at this point isn't even an option any longer, as The CW no longer has the rights to move forward on any of them.
The CW's President of Entertainment, Brad Schwartz, told the outlet, “We’ve already given those back to the studios, so they’re free to develop those and sell them anywhere.”
The Powerpuff Girls Will Remain in the Past
As noted, the live-action Powerpuff Girls could still theoretically be made elsewhere, but if The CW passed on it multiple times, finding another interested network or streaming service seems like it'd be an uphill battle. Judging by the reactions on social media, the fans weren't exactly thrilled to see the series getting the live-action reboot treatment. Perhaps this is one of those animated shows that just loses its magic when trying to switch into the live-action format, coming across as too "campy" when attempted.
“Sometimes things miss, and this was just a miss,” former CW President of Entertainment, Mark Pedowitz, said of why the network passed on the intiial pilot in 2021. “Tonally, it might have felt a little too campy. It didn’t feel as rooted in reality as it might have. But again, you learn things when you test things out. And in this case, we felt like, ‘Let’s take a step back and go back to the drawing board.’”
The original animated series ran for six seasons and nearly 80 episodes, spanning from 1998 to 2005. It was given an animated revival series in 2016, this one lasting for three seasons and nearly 120 episodes before concluding in 2019. In 2002, the pint-sized superheroes returned for The Powerpuff Girls Movie, which was released in theaters in 2002.