CW Is Reportedly Working on a Live-Action Remake of ‘The Powerpuff Girls’ Series

According to Reports, A Live-Action Remake of the iconic Cartoon Network classic, The Powerpuff Girls is currently in development at The CW.

The new project will see the beloved cartoon characters, Bubbles, Buttercup and Blossom as adults rather than three kindergartners. More specifically as disillusioned twentysomethings who feel bitter about losing their childhood to fighting crime. The series will follow the sisters as they grapple with not having a childhood due to their crime-fighting duties.

“Will they agree to reunite now that the world needs them more than ever?”

The official tagline of the show narrates,”The Powerpuff Girls used to be America’s pint-sized superheroes. Now they’re disillusioned twenty-somethings who resent having lost their childhood to crime fighting. Will they agree to reunite now that the world needs them more than ever?” the description reads. An official release date and cast have not yet been announced as the project is still in the works.

Some Big Names Involved

Fans of the early aughts show should get excited as the reboot comes with some big names attached as well. Diablo Cody and Heather Regnier (Veronica Mars, iZombie, Sleepy Hollow) will write and executive produce the project. Along with Berlanti Productions’ Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter, and David Madden.

Cody is best known for writing the critically-acclaimed comedy feature “Juno,” for which she won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 2008. Her other films include “Jennifer’s Body” and “Young Adult.” She also co-created the Amazon comedy series “One Mississippi” alongside Tig Notaro and Showtime’s “United States of Tara” starring Toni Collette.

CW and the aforementioned Berlanti have also worked together on a number of superhero shows situated in the DC Universe. Berlanti also produced the more adult-themed version of another cutesy animated classic by turning the Archie Comics into Riverdale.

They’ll need to come back together to save the world once again

The original “Powerpuff Girls” was created by Craig McCracken and aired on Cartoon Network. In that widely popular series, Professor Utonium accidentally created the elementary school aged super team of Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup by combining sugar, spice, and everything nice with the mysterious ‘Chemical X.’ The show successfully ran for six seasons and 78 episodes between 1998 and 2005.

Throughout the cartoon series, the sisters were small children, battling giant monsters for the mayor of Townsville. But the new CW series will follow the heroes after their life as superheroes has come to a close. Years later, the girls are now in their 20s, frustrated by the amount of responsibility they had as children. They’ll need to come back together to save the world once again.

The 2016 Reboot

The Powerpuff Girls Movie was released in 2002. The series was later rebooted in 2016 and ended after a third season on June 16, 2019. The reboot starred Amanda Leighton, Kristen Li and Natalie Palamides.

The 2016 reboot told a different perspective than the original as it showed the lives of the sisters when they weren’t fighting crime. Craig McCracken, the creator of the original series, will not be involved in the reboot since he’s currently working on Netflix’s Kid Cosmic series.

The project has been given to what are probably the most capable hands available

The project combines several elements of The CW’s development strategy. Developing shows based on well-established IP from one of its parent companies’ (WarnerMedia and ViacomCBS) libraries. A superhero element (like roughly half of its scripted slate). And Berlanti, whose company is responsible for eight series on the network (among 18 overall from Berlanti Productions).

The Powerpuff Girls was one of the crowning jewels of Cartoon Network’s wild west beginnings. In theory, a live-action reboot would defeat the very purpose of the original creation. Still, the CW and Berlanti Productions have a knack for recreating colorful IPs in their own image. And it should be stressed that there’s potential for some witty and self-aware ideas to work their way in. Moreover, the project has been given to what are probably the most capable hands available.

In all fairness, the world could really use a dose of this brand of sugar, spice and everything nice!