Posted in: CW, Preview, TV | Tagged: Blossom, Bubbles, Buttercup, Chloe Bennet, cw, pilot, powerpuff girls

Powerpuff: The CW Loses Its Blossom as Chloe Bennet Exits Pilot

Published Wed, 11 Aug 2021 13:23:12 -0500

In May, 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.

Variety was first to report the news, with Warner Bros. Television reportedly looking to extend Bennet's option but scheduling conflicts forced her to exit (with a new casting search set to begin this fall). Cameron and Perrault remain attached to the project. Talks are underway to extend options for Donald Faison (Scrubs), Nicholas Podany (Hart of Dixie), Robyn Lively (Light As A Feather), Tom Kenny (SpongeBob SquarePants).

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 needs 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 Craig McCracken, 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 and executive produced the pilot, with Warner Bros. Television producing.

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