The CW announced that it has ordered pilots for a live-action reboot of The Powerpuff Girls, DC Comics’ Naomi, and an untitled dramedy written by Claire Rothrock and Ryann Weir. Not only that, but the network also ordered a reboot of USA’s The 4400 by René Echevarria and Scott Peters straight-to-series for the 2021-2022 season.
The Powerpuff Girls live-action series was initially announced back in August 2020. Based on Craig McCracken’s Cartoon Network series, the live-action rendition sees the pint-sized superheroes in their twenties, resenting that they have lost their childhoods to fighting crime. Will they agree to reunite now that the world needs them more than ever?
The animated series ran for six seasons and 78 episodes between 1998 and 2005. The Powerpuff Girls Movie was released in 2002, while a rebooted animated series began airing on Cartoon Network in 2016. It will be written and executive produced by Heather Regnier and Diablo Cody, with Cody executive producing via Vita Vera Films. Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter, and David Madden will executive produce via Berlanti Productions. Erika Kennair and Warner Bros. Television will produce.
Naomi is one of DC’s more recent heroines. The critically acclaimed 2019 comic book series has been written by Brian Michael Bendis and David F. Walker, and illustrated by Jamal Campbell. It follows a teen girl’s journey from her small northwestern town to the heights of the multiverse. When a supernatural event shakes her hometown to the core, Naomi sets out to uncover its origins, and what she discovers will challenge everything we believe about our heroes.
Ava DuVernay and Jill Blankenship will be penning and executive-producing the series. The project will be produced by DuVernay’s Array Filmworks in association with Warner Bros Television, with Sarah Bremner and Paul Garnes also set as EPs.
The CW is yet to make any decision on 2020 development season holdovers – The Lost Boys and Maverick, which went back to the development stage, or a possible spinoff of The 100. The network is also prepping spinoffs of All American, Black Lightning and Nancy Drew that will air as planted episodes of their parent shows later this season.
Last week, the network renewed 12 of its returning shows including The Flash, Riverdale, and Batwoman.