Live-action ‘Powerpuff Girls’ series no longer pushing through – report

MANILA, Philippines – The upcoming live-action Powerpuff Girls series is no longer in development, The CW’s president of entertainment, Brad Schwartz, confirmed to TVLine on Thursday, May 18.

After two years of constant delays, reworks, and recasts, American television network The CW gave up on the redevelopment of the childhood classic.

“We’ve already given those back to the studios,” Schwartz told the news website. “They’re free to develop those and sell them anywhere.”

Powerpuff – the series’ tentative title – would have seen the three superhero girls as twenty-something adults who hold a lot of resentment for losing their childhood to crime fighting. 

The cast would have included Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. actress Chloe Bennet as Blossom, Disney’s Descendants star Dove Cameron as Bubbles, and Broadway’s Jagged Little Pill performer Yana Perrault as Buttercup. Donald Faison, best known for his role in the sitcom Scrubs, was also cast as The Professor, the father figure of the girls.

The original narrator of the popular kids’ show, Tom Kenny, was set to reprise his role as well. 

In early 2021, Maggie Kiley directed and executive produced the pilot episode, but it was later scrapped in May of the same year due to being “too campy,” according to former The CW president Mark Pedowitz. He also said that the initial pilot was “just a miss.”

Accidentally created in a laboratory, the Powerpuff Girls included three pint-sized children who dedicated most of their days to fighting crime in the fictional world of Townsville. The original show ran for six seasons with a total of 78 episodes. It first aired on November 18, 1998, on Cartoon Network. 

The development of the live-action series was announced on August 25, 2020. – with reports from Cheska Lingad/Rappler.com

Cheska Lingad is a Rappler intern.