A leaked trailer for the live-action show of the superhero cartoon The Powerpuff Girls spewed renewed interest in why Warner Bros. Television canceled it.
The Powerpuff Girls was one of the biggest cartoons and the flagship show of Cartoon Network in the late '90s and early 2000s. The merchandise sales alone made it a juggernaut in the industry even after it ended in 2005.
Cartoon Network rebooted it in 2016 with the same name, which unfortunately arrived with lowbrow humor, a lack of the visceral action of the original, and the replacement of the original voice actresses.
Why the Live-Action Powerpuff Girls Show Was Canceled
A trailer for The CW's canceled live-action pilot of The Powerpuff Girls cartoon called Powerpuff recently leaked online. The show would have starred Chloe Bennet, most known for her role as Daisy Johnsin in Agents of SHIELD, alongside Dove Cameron and Yana Perrault as Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup, respectively.
Powerpuff would have been a reimagining of the original cartoon with the girls grown up, deprived of a childhood by Professor "Drake" Utonium, played by Donald Faison, who exploited their powers for profit and fame.
Nicholas Podany, who recently starred as Billy Crystal in Saturday Night Live, was also cast as Joseph "Jojo" Mondel Jr., the son of Mojo Jojo. Mojo was Utonium's human lab partner and not a mutated chimpanzee. The girls would have accidentally killed him, ending their superhero careers in Townsville as teenagers.
The trio would return seven years later at 25 years old, with Blossom directionless, Bubbles trying to be a celebrity, and Buttercup becoming a firefighter, just in time for supervillains and monsters to return to Townsville. The cast is rounded out with Robyn Lively as Miss Sara Bellum and Tom Kenny returning as The Narrator.
The CW announced the series to be in development on August 24, 2020, without any involvement from Powerpuff Girls creator Craig McCracken. A pilot was later ordered on February 9, 2021.
Unfortunately for The CW, on June 10, 2021, the script for the pilot leaked, adding embarrassment to the production and leading to Bennet wisely dropping out due to claims of a scheduling conflict.
It wasn't until May 18, 2023 that The CW finally announced that Powerpuff wasn't moving forward. According to former CW President Mark Pedowitz, the primary factor in its cancelation was that it was "too campy" and that "It didn't feel as rooted in reality as it might have:"
"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.'"
According to Craig McCracken (via LA Times), the reason the pilot failed was because "if they're adults, that's just three super girls who don't have to deal with being kids:"
"I had one meeting with them, and I told them, 'When you turn them into adults, they're no longer the 'Powerpuff Girls' because if they're adults, that's just three super girls who don't have to deal with being kids.' That's a completely different show."
The Powerpuff Girls property remains with Warner Bros. Discovery, and there are no plans to revive it in live-action again, but that doesn't mean the end for the superpowered girls.
Small Hope for Proper Powerpuff Girls Reboot
Cartoon veteran Craig McCracken has endured much resistance in his endeavor to create original cartoons. His last was Kid Cosmic for Netflix, which ended in 2022.
After pitching multiple original projects, he will return to his past work, developing spin-offs for shows like Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends and a potential new The Powerpuff Girls cartoon. The network rebooted the latter in 2016 without his involvement to generally adverse critical and audience reaction.
Sadly, the last update on the project was still in the development phase. On McCracken's now deleted account on X (via BleedingCool), he said it was "entirely different" from being in production:
"There was no 'reboot' announced. It was announced I was developing something new with PPG, which is still true. Tip for animation fans, a 'development' greenlight and 'production' greenlight are entirely different things."
Additionally, considering how Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav has been treating cartoons, the likelihood of The Powerpuff Girls' return is an uphill battle, one that McCracken will hopefully win.
Learn more about several other superhero shows that were canceled in 2023 alongside Powerpuff.
