Powerless Showrunner Departs The DC Comics Comedy Series

Ben Queen, the writer of Cars 2 and writer/producer of A to Z, has departed NBC's Powerless, Deadline reports.

Queen wrote the pilot for the anticipated superhero sitcom, and was set to be co-showrunner on the series with Michael Patrick Jann, who directed the pilot. Queen reportedly departed as part of a mutual decision with Warner Bros. Television and NBC, due to creative differences between Queen and those in charge of the show.

As Deadline notes, this isn't the first time this has happened recently: FOX's anticipated live-action/animation hybrid Son of Zorn lost one of its showrunners earlier this year as well. It's not an entirely uncommon development, so shouldn't be immediately assumed to mean major troubles for the series...although it obviously could prove to be bad.

The start of production on Powerless, which was expected to be this week, will be delayed while they find a new executive producer. The delay is not expected to impact its midseason start date on NBC.

Danny Pudi, Vanessa Hudgens, Alan Tudyk and others star in the series as everyday people whose brushes with the superheroes and supervillains of the DC Universe are rare and mostly traumatic. Much of the series is centered on Retcon Insurance, who specialize in insuring everyday people against the damage done by super-battles.

"What's great is that we have access to all of that art and all of those comic book artists and with their permission, we're able to delve into that world. We get to sort of access the comic world in a way that other shows haven't had a chance to do, so it's pretty cool," Queen told us at Comic Con International: San Diego last month. "I love the example of George Clooney. George Clooney is not thinking about us, even though we're thinking about him. And he probably isn't going to show up at an insurance company in the Midwest at any given point. So that's kind of our take on the world."

Powerless is expected to debut on NBC in January 2017.

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