Townsville is one step closer to returning to the screen: Variety reports that Donald Faison (Scrubs, Clueless) has been (rather brilliantly) cast as Professor Utonium in The CW’s upcoming live-action Powerpuff Girls series. It’s now just called Powerpuff, presumably because the girls are all grown up.
The professor—Drake to his friends—is a genius who created the trio of tiny crimefighters in his lab. In the cartoon, he’s the gentle but authoritative figure who makes sure the girls get a good night’s rest and eat their vegetables. But with the girls disbanded and in their twenties, Daddy Powerpuff is juggling a midlife crisis and a need to sort out his relationships with his disillusioned daughters.
Powerpuff stars Chloe Bennet (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) as the team leader, Blossom; Dove Cameron (also Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) as the chipper Bubbles; and Yana Perrault (Broadway’s Jagged Little Pill) as the tough Buttercup. All we know about the plot is that the grown-up girls have broken up the trio, resentful about having spent their childhoods fighting crime. But some new trouble rises and the team has to figure out how to come together again (to save the world, of course).
This show could go in so many directions (and has so many villains to choose from). The pilot episode is written by writers/executive producers Heather Regnier and Diablo Cody, and directed by Maggie Kiley (Riverdale). Along with its many superpowered CW siblings, Powerpuff is executive produced by Berlanti Productions. Regnier’s name is often overshadowed by that of Oscar-winner Cody (Juno), but her TV production resume includes Sleepy Hollow, iZombie, and the last season of Veronica Mars. The elements seem to be in place for this to be a fun, smart show—so long as it doesn’t take itself too seriously or too ridiculously.
