The Powerpuff Girls live-action series star, Dove Cameron, says she wants to get the show right with reshoots. Craig McCracken’s original The Powerpuff Girls ran on Cartoon Network from 1998-2005. The animated series focused on the adventures of three kindergarten-aged superheroes – Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup – who were created in a lab in an experiment gone wrong by a scientist named Professor Utonium. As the girls fought crime in the fictional city of Townsville, the eponymous show cultivated a massive fanbase, with audiences rooting for the lead girls’ adorable, humorous, and power-packed adventures. The series ended 15 years ago, but its characters remained memorable and popular in syndication. Recently, The CW announced plans to revive the franchise with an adult live-action series, but before those plans could come to fruition, a major roadblock hindered the progress.
Initially, things were going smoothly for the revival. CW had even handed out a pilot order to the series, and popular stars including Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.‘s Chloe Bennet, The Descendants‘ Dove Cameron, and Broadway actress Yana Perrault were also attached to portray the main roles of Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup respectively. Many anticipated the show to be greenlit for the Fall 2021 season, but when CW reviewed pilot, it immediately pulled back its support, announcing that the show needed to be reworked. The problems were never fully explained, although it was alleged that the show was “too campy” to fit in with the network’s tone. Since then, producer Greg Berlanti has been working to straighten out the more contentious elements of the pilot.
In a conversation with ComicBook, Cameron opened up about the show’s overhauling and reshoots. While she declined to comment on the status of the production, she admitted that active efforts were underway to remodel the show. Cameron understands that fans are disillusioned with the delays, but hopes the wait will be worth it as the reworked show will be better than the original. The actress emphasized on ‘getting the show right.’ Cameron said she realizes the value the source material holds, hence why she and the creative team are trying not to do things half-heartedly, as it’s easy to mess up a beloved property. Instead, they are thoughtfully working towards doing justice to the popular animated series. Read what Cameron said below:
I can’t tell you that! We are going back, we are reshooting, we are taking a slightly different approach tonally. It’s one of those things where you don’t want to get it wrong and it’s very easy to get it wrong. In the same way that everyone from an outsider’s perspective is like, ‘How are you gonna do that?’ We’re figuring that out. We want to get it right for us and for the fans. We really loved what we got but we also just think we could it a little bit closer to what we have in mind. I’ll keep you posted.
Despite the hiccups that The Powerpuff Girls live-action series has encountered along the way, Cameron has remained confident and enthusiastic about the future of the show. When the pilot script was leaked online, Cameron was one of the first people to jump in and quash rumors about it being the reason for the show’s re-imagination. The script drew largely negative reactions from fans. But even then, Cameron firmly stood in support of the show, reiterating that those were the aspects that were being reworked. She insisted the creative team was going in a different direction to properly modernize the franchise, so fans should trust the process and wait patiently.
After all the obstacles, it’s not surprising that audiences’ trust in The Powerpuff Girls TV series has somewhat wavered. With CW’s disinterest in the pilot and the shockingly adult script, fans are finding it hard to conceive what the show would actually look like. Of course, the original pilot wasn’t ideal, but it does not mean there isn’t room for improvement. And with Cameron herself reassuring that the revised project would be better than the original, fans should take comfort in the fact that after all the interruptions, The Powerpuff Girls show is finally headed in the right direction.
