The Powerpuff Girls Star Dove Cameron Defends The CW's Dead Series
"The Powerpuff Girls" is among the most legendary cartoons to ever reach the airwaves. The series about three young superheroines saving their home of Townsville from various threats called Cartoon Network home from 1998 to 2005, later returning to the channel for a revival between 2016 and 2019. But Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup still weren't ready to leave the small-screen spotlight. In 2020, the CW announced a live-action take on "The Powerpuff Girls" that would've chronicled their lives as young adults. By 2023, however, the show wound up canned.
Since news of the project's demise reached the public, word on it from those involved has been scarce. Thankfully, one major player has pulled back the curtain a tad on the defunct CW endeavor. Bubbles actor Dove Cameron has come to the show's defense following the strong online backlash it received. "Let me just say that what we shot, I loved, and that was one of the most fun things. And I think whatever you thought it was going to be, it wasn't going to be that, and it was very campy and very sexy and very fun," she told Elle.
While it's good to hear that Cameron enjoyed working on the show and felt it had potential, could a live-action "Powerpuff Girls" series truly have thrived?
Could a live-action, adult Powerpuff Girls have really worked?
From the moment it was announced, the CW's live-action "Powerpuff Girls" was doomed to fail. Not only were fans generally uninterested in this more mature take on the Cartoon Network favorite, but a leaked pilot script proved controversial as well. Still, the world never got to see the final product. Perhaps these elements could've come together to form something special on-screen. After all, if the CW could find success turning the colorful and happy-go-lucky world of "Archie" into the edgy, dark supernatural drama "Riverdale," surely its "Powerpuff Girls" had a chance.
At the same time, the creator of the original "Powerpuff Girls," Craig McCracken, brought up one big issue the CW series would've been plagued by in his eyes. "When you turn them into adults, they're no longer the Powerpuff Girls because if they're adults, that's just three super girls who don't have to deal with being kids," he recalled telling the minds behind the show during a chat with the Los Angeles Times. Thus, even if it turned out to be entertaining, its focus on adult characters in adult situations would have prevented it from being a strong "Powerpuff Girls" adaptation.
At the end of the day, it's highly unlikely that "Powerpuff Girls" fans will ever get to see what the CW had in mind for Bubbles, Blossom, and Buttercup. Depending on who you ask, that's either for the best or a major disappointment.