The CW made decisions on a number of its returning and upcoming shows this week, with two days worth of announcements regarding the network’s upcoming 2021-2022 programming. Among these was the surprising revelation that Powerpuff, the channel’s buzzed-about live-action take on Cartoon Network’s The Powerpuff Girls, was being “redeveloped”, with plans to shoot a second pilot episode later this year. Given the amount of conversation that surrounded the pilot already, this news definitely shocked some — but according to The CW chairman and CEO Mark Pedowitz, there’s a reason why the decision was made. In a press briefing about the network’s fall schedule on Tuesday, Pedowitz called Powerpuff a “powerful property,” and added that the interest surrounding the show indicated that the network wants “to get it right before we put it out.”
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“The reason you do pilots is because, sometimes things miss, and this was just a miss,” Pedowitz explained. “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.”
“In this case, the pilot didn’t work,” Pedowitz continued. “But because we see there’s 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.”
Based on the original Cartoon Network animated series and characters created by Craig McCracken, Powerpuff will catch up with Blossom (played by Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Chloe Bennet), Bubbles (Descendants‘ Dove Cameron), and Buttercup (Broadway actress Yana Perrault), who used to be America’s pint-sized superheroes but now are disillusioned twentysomethings who resent having lost their childhood to crime-fighting. Will they agree to reunite now that the world needs them more than ever?
Heather Regnier (Veronica Mars) and Diablo Cody (Juno) are writing the script for the Powerpuff pilot and Maggie Kiley is set to direct. Regnier, Cody, and Kiley will all executive produce alongside Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter, and David Madden. The pilot also starred Donald Faison as Professor Drake Utonium, and Nicholas Podany as Mojo Jojo Jr.
What do you think of The CW’s explanation about Powerpuff being redeveloped? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!
