The Powerpuff Girls Live-Action Show Is No Longer in Development at The CW

The Powerpuff Girls live-action series is no longer in development at The CW, as the network has pulled the plug on several projects.

Following a report from TVLine regarding the network’s fresh wave of cancellations, a spokesperson for The CW confirmed to IGN that the live-action take on The Powerpuff Girls is no longer going ahead.

“We’ve already given those back to the studios,” Brad Schwartz, The CW’s President of Entertainment, told the outlet after a recent Upfront presentation, “so they’re free to develop those and sell them anywhere.”

Reports surfaced in August 2020 that The CW was developing a live-action version of Cartoon Network’s The Powerpuff Girls, and the show received a pilot order in February 2021 with Chloe Bennet, Dove Cameron, and Yana Perrault signing up to play the superpowered sisters.

The new Powerpuff Girls series was based on the original superhero animated series that ran from 1998 to 2005, and was set to follow Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup as they become “disillusioned twenty-somethings who resent having lost their childhood to crime-fighting.”

However, the project has suffered several setbacks along the way. The CW decided to redevelop and reshoot the pilot after the original pilot was said to be “a miss.” The series faced further troubles in August 2021 when Bennet, who was playing Blossom, exited the project.

The Powerpuff Girls is one of several projects that The CW has scrapped. The network has also reportedly cancelled its planned Arrowverse spinoff Justice U, Archie Comics adaptation Jake Chang, as well as Robert Rodriguez’s female-led Zorro series.

Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.