The CW’s Powerpuff Girls Live-Action Pilot Has to Be Completely Reshot, Here’s Why

The ranks of “pointless reboots that no one asked for” are getting ready to add a new entry to the list, with The CW’s upcoming live-action series based on Cartoon Network’s iconic cartoon show The Powerpuff Girls. The debut of the new show, simply titled Powerpuff, has been delayed due to the pilot episode needing to be reshot. Amidst speculations, The CW chairman and CEO Mark Pedowitz clarified the need for the reshoots.

“The reason you do pilots is because, sometimes things miss, and this was just a miss. 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.”
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The fact that the pilot episode for Powerpuff was not up to scratch became a very public affair when the script for the episode was allegedly leaked. The script was decried for trying too hard to be edgy, with constant references to sex and pop culture, and little trace of the personalities from the cartoon show that made The Powerpuff Girls such an iconic series. While it has not been officially confirmed if the leaked script was indeed the real deal, Pedowitz described the previously shot pilot episode as too “campy.”

“In this case, the pilot didn’t work. 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.”

Apart from the return of the three titular superheroines, Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup, played by Chloe Bennet, Dove Cameron, and Yana Perrault, and their father Professor Utonium, played by Donald Faison, Powerpuff will also introduce Nicholas Podany as Joseph “Jojo” Mondel Jr. It is not yet known what other characters from the cartoons will be making the jump to live-action.

While the news around the Powerpuff reboot has hardly been positive so far, The CW has already gotten a huge hit on their hands with Riverdale, the gritty remake of another beloved childhood property, Archie Comics. Clearly, the network is hoping for similar results with Powerpuff, and judging by how powerful nostalgia has become in driving viewership in the entertainment industry these days, the upcoming show might just become The CW’s next big hit.

Powerpuff stars Chloe Bennet, Dove Cameron, Yana Perrault, Donald Faison, Nicholas Podany, Tom Kenny, and Robin Lively. The series takes a look at the lives of Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup as young adults, who have grown resentful of a childhood spent fighting crime, and are struggling to adjust to their adult lives, even as a new threat presents itself that forces the three women to come together once again to save the day. This news originated at ComicBook.com.

Topics: The Powerpuff Girls