The Powerpuff Girls live-action series has moved a step closer to reality.
The CW announced on Tuesday that it has ordered a pilot for the project, which was first announced as being in development at the network last August.
Based on Craig McCraken’s original The Powerpuff Girls animated series, the potential new show will find Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup as disillusioned twentysomethings who have retired from being superheroes after getting frustrated by the amount of responsibility they had as children. Though they resent losing their childhood to crimefighting, the trio will have to come back together to save the world once again.
The Powerpuff Girls live-action series hails from writers and executive producers Heather Regnier (Veronica Mars) and Diablo Cody (Juno), with the latter executive producing via Vita Vera Films. Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter, and David Madden will all exec produce via Berlanti Productions, with Erika Kennair (Helter Skelter: An American Myth) and Warner Bros. Television also producing.
The original The Powerpuff Girls series, which ran for six seasons on Cartoon Network from 1998 to 2005, spawned a movie in 2002. Directed by McCracken, the animated film grossed $16 million at the worldwide box office, against a production budget of $11 million
The CW’s The Powerpuff Girls won’t be the first live-action take on the beloved animated series. Back in 2018, an unauthorized short film based on the Cartoon Network property was released on YouTube. Launched as part of Adi Shankar’s Bootleg Universe, Powerpuff Girls: The Long Way Back features adult versions of Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup who reunite for one final mission after giving up their powers 10 years ago following the death of their father, Professor Utonium.
The Powerpuff Girls live-action series is just one of the three projects that recently got pilot orders from The CW. The two other pilot orders are for the DC project Naomi from Ava DuVernay and Jill Blankenship, and for the yet-to-be-titled religious dramedy from Claire Rothrock and Ryann Weir. The network also gave a straight-to-series order to a reboot of the sci-fi series The 4400.