A live-action version of The Powerpuff Girls was announced by The CW in 2020, but it never got off the ground and was besieged by production issues. Now, half a decade later, a full-length trailer for the show has leaked online, giving a clue as to what it would’ve been. This is finally giving some insight as to how the Diablo Cody-written show would’ve played — which is to say, very differently than the original animated series.
The trailer, which was leaked on Reddit, depicts an aged-up version of the superhero trio, who are played by Chloe Bennett, Dove Cameron, and Yana Perrault. However, as young adults, they have abandoned their superhero ways as the Powerpuff Girls and now lead fairly normal lives after a mistake killed the show’s antagonist, Mojo — depicted as a human instead of a monkey as he was in the animated show. Blossom (Bennett) disappears from the public after the mistake, Buttercup (Perrault) gets a job as a firefighter, and Bubbles (Cameron) becomes an alcoholic who spends all day drinking.
The trailer, which comes in at over three-and-a-half minutes long, shows that the public has largely turned against the Powerpuff Girls after their mistake, leading them to go about these lives as regular citizens. “Are the Powerpuff Girls reteaming?” Bubbles is asked. “Hell no, I am never caving for Townsville again,” she replies. Unlike some leaked trailers of the past, this trailer appears to be basically completed, with finished special effects and full production value. But it also shows that this series would have been a bizarre, totally different take on the trio than anyone expected.
The Show Had Numerous Issues
The Powerpuff Girls was mired with production problems. When it was announced in 2020, optimism was high, with animation legend Greg Berlanti teaming with Cody to write and executive produce the series. After the casting trio was announced, Donald Faison joined the cast as their father, adding even more weight to the show. Things were looking good, and a first look of the girls showed that the series, now simply titled Powerpuff, was well on its way.
However, things began to fall apart when Bennett was forced to drop out of the project in 2021 due to scheduling conflicts. After this, rumors of production problems swirled, and it was axed for good in 2023. One person who was happy about this was Craig McCracken, the creator of the original show, who seemingly had problems with the entire premise of the series. “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 didn’t have to deal with being kids. That’s a completely different show,” McCracken told the Los Angeles Times.
The original Powerpuff show is streaming now.
via Collider