The Powerpuff Girls Creator Has Some Bad News About Series Revival
· BCPosted in: streaming, TV, YouTube | Tagged: The Powerpuff Girls
The Powerpuff Girls Creator Has Some Bad News About Series Revival
The Powerpuff Girls creator Craig McCracken offered an update on where things stand with the proposed series revival announced in 2022.
Published Sun, 08 Nov 2026 08:37:08 -0600
by Ray Flook
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Article Summary
- Craig McCracken says The Powerpuff Girls revival stalled after Warner Bros. shifted focus from a series to a film.
- The 2022 reboot announcement promised new Powerpuff Girls adventures, but only Foster’s Home moved forward.
- McCracken’s podcast comments didn't appear to reference the previously announced film.
- The Powerpuff Girls also faced a failed CW live-action reboot, with the reworked pilot ultimately never moving ahead.
In 2022, it was announced that animated series creator Craig McCracken (Wander Over Yonder, Kid Cosmic) was developing a reboot/revivals for The Powerpuff Girls and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends for Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe. According to the press release at the time, viewers would get to revisit the world of Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup as they faced off against a variety of villains, including familiar foes and new threats. Since that time, the new Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends series became a reality – but not The Powerpuff Girls. During an edition of the Makin' Toons podcast, host Raz Cunningham and filmmaker Allan Neuwirth welcomed animators McCracken and David B. Levy to the show. It's a great conversation you can check out above, and at one point, McCracken references the Warner Bros. deal and the project, noting that the studio once wanted a serialized take, but that was passed on when the focus shifted to a film. There was some confusion over the weekend regarding McCracken and the proposed "Powerpuff Girls" film from (now) Skydance, but he doesn't appear to be referencing that.
The Powerpuff Girls: The CW Series That Wasn't
In May 2021, we learned that The CW had asked writers & EPs Diablo Cody and Heather Regnier to rework the pilot for Powerpuff, a modern sequel series take on the beloved animated series "The Powerpuff Girls." Chloe Bennet (Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), Dove Cameron (Liv and Maddie), and Yana Perrault (Jagged Little Pill) were tapped to play Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup in a modern, live-action take that finds the pint-sized Powerpuff superteam now disillusioned twenty-somethings who resent having lost their childhood to crime-fighting but finding themselves needing to reunite to save the day one more time. Unfortunately, the reworking of the pilot has resulted in Bennet having to step away from the project.
Not long after the news came down that the pilot was being retooled, several pages of what is reportedly the script from the pilot leaked online- and to say that the response was not positive would be a righteous understatement. Amid all of that, The CW's Mark Pedowitz expanded further on the network's call for the pilot to go back to the drawing boards. "The reason we do pilots is sometimes things miss, this was just a miss," Pedowitz explained during Tuesday's network Upfronts call. "We believe in the cast completely, we believe in Diablo and Heather, the writers… in this case, the pilot didn't work."
Revealing that the original pilot "might've felt a little too campy," Pedowitz stressed that the pilot needed to be deserving of its source material when it comes to quality- so getting it right matters. "You learn things and you test things out. In this case, we felt let's take a step back and go back to the drawing board because this is a powerful property, it has engaged a lot of interest and we want to get it right before we put it out," he explained.
Based on the Cartoon Network animated series of the same name created by Cracken, the live-action pilot was written and executive produced by Cody and Regnier. Executive produced by Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter, and David Madden with Erika Kennair producing, Maggie Kiley directed & executive produced the pilot, with Warner Bros. Television producing.
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