Back in 2023, The CW made headlines when it canceled a much-anticipated live-action series featuring the grown-up Powerpuff Girls, following a series of reported troubles. Recently, a teaser video that surfaced online has given fans a glimpse into what the show could have been, and the reaction has been, to say the least, intriguing.
The video, which was briefly available on the YouTube channel "Lost Media Busters," was quickly taken down due to a copyright claim by Warner Bros. Entertainment. The three-and-a-half-minute trailer introduced the premise of the series: Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup, now young adults, have left their childhood home behind. Blossom, portrayed by Chloe Bennet, is depicted as stressed and burnt out; Bubbles, played by Dove Cameron, turns to drinking; and Buttercup, portrayed by Yana Perrault, is shown as rebellious and challenging gender norms.
In the trailer, the trio accidentally kills a human named Mojo and flees Townsville. Years later, they return to visit their father, Professor Utonium, played by Donald Faison. They encounter Mojo's now-adult son, Jojo, who has become the mayor of Townsville, brainwashed its citizens, and is seeking revenge. The trailer includes "edgy" humor, such as Bubbles joking about juggalos and Buttercup making a crude remark about Jojo's feelings towards Blossom.
The CW confirmed to Variety that the footage is authentic, but clarified that this particular trailer was not an official release and was never intended for public viewing.
The live-action Powerpuff Girls series was first announced in 2020 but faced cancellation in 2023 after numerous setbacks, including an unsuccessful pilot and the departure of Chloe Bennet from the project. CW chairman and CEO Mark Pedowitz commented on the pilot's failure, stating, "The reason you do pilots is because sometimes things miss, and this was just a miss. We believe in the cast completely. We believe in Diablo [Cody] and Heather [Regnier], the writers. We believe in the auspices of Greg Berlanti and Warner studios. In this case, the pilot didn’t work. But because we see there’s enough elements in there, we wanted to give it another shot. So that’s why we didn’t want to go forward with what we had. Tonally, it might’ve felt a little too campy. It didn’t feel as rooted in reality as it might’ve felt. But again, you learn things when you test things out. And so in this case, we felt, let’s take a step back and go back to the drawing board."
