Why The Powerpuff Girls Live-Action Show Was Scrapped By The CW (Was It Really That Bad?)

The Powerpuff Girls was supposed to get a live-action TV show that ended up being scrapped by The CW, but there was a lot going on behind the scenes that led to its cancelation. During the 1990s and 2000s, Cartoon Network was home to some of the most popular animated TV shows. Among them was The Powerpuff Girls, created by Craig McCracken and produced by Hanna-Barbera. The Powerpuff Girls premiered on Cartoon Network in 1998 to great success, running for a total of six seasons and spawning a franchise with specials, comic books, a movie, and more.

The Powerpuff Girls takes place in the fictional city of Townsville, where scientist Professor Utonium accidentally created three kindergarten-aged girls with superpowers: Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup. The girls use their powers to battle monsters, villains, and criminals in town, while also dealing with the normal issues of young children. After an animated reboot in 2016, The Powerpuff Girls was on its way to getting a live-action TV adaptation. However, the project was canceled before the pilot aired, and it would have been a controversial adaptation.

A collage image of Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup in various episodes of The Powerpuff Girls

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The CW’s Powerpuff Girls Show Was Scrapped Because The Pilot Didn’t Work

The Powerpuff Girls Didn’t Go Past A Pilot

A look at Bubbles, Blossom, and Buttercup in the live-action Powerpuff Girls

In 2020, a live-action TV adaptation of The Powerpuff Girls was announced to be in development at The CW. The trend of live-action adaptations was already strong, though mostly on the big screen, but on TV, this format found great success with shows like Riverdale and The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, so with this in mind, The Powerpuff Girls adaptation wasn’t that surprising – but the premise was. Instead of following the Powerpuff Girls as children, just like in the original TV show, Powerpuff was going to focus on the girls in their 20s.

A pilot of Powerpuff was ordered in 2021, with Chloe Bennet, Dove Cameron, and Yana Perrault cast as Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup.

The now-disillusioned 20-somethings Powerpuff Girls would have been resentful of losing their childhood to their duties as superheroes and forced to team up again when the world needed them the most. A pilot of Powerpuff was ordered in 2021, with Chloe Bennet, Dove Cameron, and Yana Perrault cast as Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup, respectively, and Donald Faison was Professor Utonium. However, in May 2021, The CW revealed the pilot would be reworked with the same production team and cast (via Deadline), and the script later leaked online, receiving a lot of backlash for its approach to the show.

Pedowitz shared the pilot may have felt “a little too campy” and not rooted in reality.

That same month, The CW's CEO Mark Pedowitz revealed to THR that the Powerpuff pilot simply didn’t work, but they wanted to give it another shot. Pedowitz shared the pilot may have felt “a little too campy” and not rooted in reality, and they wanted to get it right. After a long time in redevelopment, Powerpuff was officially canceled in 2023, with the rights returning to Warner Bros with no plans of developing the project any further.

Powerpuff Was Meant To Be Retooled With The Same Creatives And Cast

Powerpuff Could Have Been Good

Chloe Bennet and the animated Powerpuff Girls

As mentioned above, the retooling of Powerpuff was meant to have the same cast and production team as the pilot, but that didn’t go well. It’s unknown how much Powerpuff would have changed during its redevelopment or what the idea was for it after the pilot changed, but keeping the same cast and creatives pointed to The CW having a lot of faith in the project, regardless of its rough start. However, this didn’t go well, either.

A couple of months after the pilot of Powerpuff was announced to be reworked with the same team, Chloe Bennet dropped out of the project (via Variety). The reason given at the time was that scheduling conflicts got in the way of her return to Powerpuff, but that casting for Blossom would begin in the following months. Cameron, Perrault, and Faison continued to be part of the cast until the project’s official cancelation. There was no word on casting for the new Blossom, potential actresses, or an official casting, so it’s fair to say Powerpuff was canceled without Blossom.

How The CW's Powerpuff Show Was Going To Be Different From The Original Cartoon

Powerpuff & The Powerpuff Girls Would Have Been Very Different

The Powerpuff Girls was a family-friendly TV show that was mostly aimed at a young audience, though not without some subtle jokes for grown-ups. Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup were in kindergarten, so their classmates and friends were also young children – surely, the Powerpuff Girls were superheroes and were committed to keeping Townsville safe, but the show also dedicated enough time to exploring their lives as the kindergarten girls they were. Thanks to this, The Powerpuff Girls addressed various topics that children should be aware of, such as bullying and animal cruelty.

Blossom would have been chronically stressed, Buttercup would have been too rebellious, and Bubbles would have been a heavy drinker.

Powerpuff, on the other hand, would have completely changed this. In the live-action adaptation, contrary to the animated show, the Powerpuff Girls would have grown up: Blossom would have been chronically stressed, Buttercup would have been too rebellious, and Bubbles would have been a heavy drinker. During a mission to save Townsville, the Powerpuff Girls would have accidentally killed Mojo (who is a human), leading Blossom to leave town, Buttercup to become a firefighter, and Bubbles to sell her merch on Hollywood Boulevard. Seven years later, they would have reunited at their childhood home as Professor Utonium tells them that “darkness might be returning.”

On top of that, Mojo’s son, Jojo (yes, they did that) would now be the town’s mayor, and he would have had a love-hate relationship with Blossom. All this is shown in the leaked trailer for Powerpuff, along with the girls’ superpowers and a mechanical monster reminiscent of some of the villains seen in the animated show. From what has been revealed and shown about Powerpuff, the show wouldn’t have had the same essence as the original animated show, and it’s easy to see why the project ended up being scrapped.

It Doesn’t Seem Like Powerpuff As Originally Envisioned Will Ever Happen

Powerpuff Could Go Through Some Changes

Bubbles in Powerpuff girls combined with the CW's live-action Powerpuff Girls

In January 2024, Powerpuff co-writer Diablo Cody opened up about the show, its leaked script, and its early cancelation. Cody admitted there were “a lot of issues” behind the scenes and was disappointed as she and co-creator Heather Regnier had been very excited about the project. Cody explained that the main idea was to see the Powerpuff Girls as disillusioned adults who felt they had been exploited throughout their childhood. However, judging purely by the trailer, the show didn’t really achieve this.

Cody is aware that, if the project was picked up again and finally happened, it wouldn’t be her version.

Cody also admitted that making a live-action version of The Powerpuff Girls was a challenge, but they wanted to do “something kind of weird” with it, and she is aware that, if the project was picked up again and finally happened, it wouldn’t be her version. At the time of writing, there’s nothing that could point to Warner reviving the project anytime soon, but as the studio is always looking for its next big franchise, it can’t be entirely ruled out – but if it happens, hopefully the new version will have learned from all of Powerpuff’s mistakes.

Sources: Deadline, THR, Variety.