Powerpuff Girls live-action series finally cancelled after years of development

After years of development, the controversial live-action adaptation of The Powerpuff Girls has finally been cancelled.

The TV series, planned to have aired on CW, was to adapt the classic The Powerpuff Girls animated show into a live-action format and was going to make a lot of changes to the character and story that proved to be controversial amongst fans.

It was reported there would be no sugar, no spice, and nothing nice, as more gritty and dark themes were to be key parts of the show, with the popular example being Buttercup suffering from substance abuse problems. The fact it was live-action was also a let-down amongst fans, who criticised the unreleased series for straying so far away from the source material.

Development of the series suffered due to several reworks and recasts, with the script being rewritten more than once. One of the copies of the script was also leaked online, which created further backlash against the reboot’s development. A pilot episode was also filmed, but was never released to the public.

Fortunately, the project has finally been scrapped altogether, though it’s unclear if there’ll be further attempts to create a live-action reboot series further down the line.

The original The Powerpuff Girls ran for six seasons on Cartoon Network, and received a feature film, with the series concluding with its final episode in March 2005.

Despite the criticism, a reboot of the show could work if done correctly. Many reboots fall victim to straying too far away from the source material they’re adapting, generally upsetting fans of the original which typically make up a majority of the audience. If The Powerpuff Girls are to return with a new TV show, it’ll likely have more success if it remains animated and follows the story of the original more closely, with a bit less chemical X just to be safe.