A pilot for a live-action continuation of the much-beloved action comedy cartoon series The Powerpuff Girls has recently been ordered by The CW, as reported by Variety. The project is authored by Academy Award-winning screenwriter Diablo Cody (Juno, Childrens Hospital) and Veronica Mars reboot scribe Heather V. Regnier (Sleepy Hollow, iZombie), IGN reports.
Cody and Regnier’s take on the property reportedly depicts the titular trio of sisters as young adults reckoning with the reality of their shared history of super-heroism, via Variety: “The new series sees the pint-sized superheroes as disillusioned twenty-somethings who resent having lost their childhood to crime fighting. Will they agree to reunite [when]… the world needs them more than ever?”
Emmy-nominated writer Heather Anne Campbell (Saturday Night Live, The Eric Andre Show) commented via her Twitter that Cody and Regnier’s premise was not too dissimilar from her 2014 animated short called HBO’s Powerpuff Girls that aired as part of Fox’s ADHD programming block. Campbell’s short juxtaposes the characters and 2-D art style of the original cartoon with the mature imagery and naturalistic dialogue from HBO’s half-hour sad-com Girls.
News of the sequel series’ development first broke in August 2020 via Deadline. In an interview with SyFy Wire, Powerpuff Girls creator Craig McCracken (Kid Cosmic, Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends) stated that he is not involved in The CW’s production, as was the case with the Powerpuff Girls reboot that ran from 2016 to 2019 on Cartoon Network. However, the overall prospect of witnessing his characters’ maturation is reportedly of interest to the writer, who is presently approaching age fifty, SyFy Wire reports. “I’m curious to see what they do with it… The initial concept of Powerpuff Girls was the idea that they were little kids being superheroes, so the fact that they’re making them grow up… changes that initial concept. But we’ll see what they do with it,” he remarked, via SyFy Wire.
The Powerpuff Girls is one of several recent pilot orders issued by The CW. The others are Naomi, DC superhero series hailing from executive producer Ava DuVernay (A Wrinkle in Time, Queen Sugar), and an untitled dramedy about an unlikely female friendship that blossoms within the confines of a Catholic church written and executive produced by Claire Rothrock (Basic Witch) and Ryann Weir (Drunk Girls in Heels), according to Variety.