It made plenty of sense when Greg Berlanti decided to turn DC’s Green Arrow into a Christopher Nolan-esque dark vigilante for Arrow, with the success of that show setting off an entire superhero universe, but it made substantially less sense when Berlanti decided to do the same gritty reboot thing on The CW again with Riverdale—a show that took the all-American teen drama of the Archie comics and added a not-insignificant amount of Twin Peaks and Vampire Diaries to the mix. It seemed ridiculous at the time, and though it still seems just as ridiculous, it obviously worked out pretty well and the show is now a big CW hit. So we should have learned to trust Berlanti and his gritty reboot instincts at this point, and yet… it’s hard not to feel a little hesitation at the announcement of his next big CW project: A dark-ish, live-action version of The Powerpuff Girls.
Berlanti’s not alone on this one, though, with Variety reporting that Diablo Cody and writer Heather Regnier actually created the project (Regnier worked on the Veronica Mars revival, but she didn’t write the terrible finale, so that’s all good). The plan is for this new Powerpuff Girls to be a sequel series of sorts, catching up with the eponymous super-sisters now that they’re “disillusioned twentysomethings who resent having lost their childhood to crime fighting.” Cheery! No word on if any other classic characters will appear, but The Flash has had a big CG gorilla show from time to time so Mojo Jojo can’t be totally out of the question. Also, if The Gangreen Gang shows up, does that mean this show will take place in the Gorillaz universe?
Anyway, for anyone who missed the original show on Cartoon Network, it was about a guy named Professor Utonium who combined sugar, spice, and everything nice in hopes of creating “the perfect little girl.” But Professor Utonium accidentally added an extra ingredient to the concoction… Chemical X. Thus, the Powerpuff Girls were born! Using their ultra superpowers, Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup have dedicated their lives to fighting crime and the forces of evil. Cue killer theme song.