When The CW revealed plans for Powerpuff, a live-action adaptation of Cartoon Network's The Powerpuff Girls, there was initially quite a bit of excitement among fans of the iconic animated series.
However, the network's approach to the material raised eyebrows from the start, largely because we'd be picking up with the iconic trio as adults. Diablo Cody and Heather Regnie's role in developing the project felt like a step in the right direction, as did the fact Chloe Bennet was tapped to play Blossom, with Dove Cameron as Bubbles, and Yana Perrault picked to bring Buttercup to life on screen.
A pilot was shot, though it didn't strike a chord with network bosses. The CW's former Chairman and CEO Mark Pedowitz even admitted that the whole thing was a "miss," and while the plan had been to go back to the drawing board and reshoot the episode, the whole thing fell apart and the series was ultimately scrapped.
During a recent interview with Elle (via Toonado.com), Cameron was asked about the series and called it "very campy and very sexy and very fun." Set photos highlighted the three leads joking around on set in their respective characters' trademark colours, and the singer and actress was excited to let fans see that dynamic on screen.
"Let me just say that what we shot, I loved, and that was one of the most fun things," she reveals. "I think whatever you thought it was gonna be, it wasn't gonna be that, and it was very campy and very sexy and very fun, and I love Diablo Cody."
Last month, The Powerpuff Girls creator Craig McCracken revealed he warned The CW that they were taking his beloved characters in the wrong direction when he learned of plans to age them up.
"I had one meeting with them and I told them, '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 recalls. "That’s a completely different show."
"The Powerpuff Girls used to be America’s pint-sized superheroes, now they’re disillusioned twentysomethings who resent having lost their childhood to crime-fighting," read the synopsis for the now-scrapped series, confirming it was to be a far cry from the animated series fans know and love. "Will they agree to reunite now that the world needs them more than ever?"
You can watch the full interview with Cameron in the video below.