FX Passes on POWERS TV Series Starring Jason Patric & Lucy Punch

During the Television Critics Association press tour it was revealed that the upcoming TV series based on the Eisner Award winning comic book series Powers by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming would have to undergo major reshoots if it were to air.

Powers follows Detective Christian Walker, once a costumed hero who has since lost his extraordinary abilities, and his new partner Deena Pilgrim as they investigate crimes related to super-powered beings. Created by artist Michael Avon Oeming and writer Brian Michael Bendis, a television pilot produced by Sony and FX network was scheduled to air sometime in 2012. The show would feature Jason Patric as Detective Walker, Lucy Punch as Detective Pilgrim and Charles S. Dutton as the head of a homicide police precinct where the detectives work. The pilot also stars Carly Foulkes as Retro Girl, Bailey Madison as young orphan Calista, Titus Welliver as Triphammer (an Iron Man-like character) and Vinnie Jones as mobster Johnny Royale.

FX president John Landgraf has how stated that the network "didn't pick the pilot of Powers up" for the 2012 television season. This may come as a surprise to many of the property's fans who, although expressing hesitation about the casting choices for the two lead roles and rumors of a downplayed tone, were anxiously awaiting an airing date. After filming had completed late last year and the network screened the show, it's screenwriter Charles Eglee was brought back to perform rewrites on the script which would retool major aspects of the pilot they didn't feel were working.

Re-shoots were planned for this January in Chicago, Illinois, but it appears they were not greenlit by the network. "[It's a] fairly substantial rewrite," Landgraf explained, adding that much of the pilot would have to be re-shot. "Right now we're in the process of deciding whether to pull the trigger on that re-shoot."

The pilot, much like the comic series, opened with the two detectives investigating the brutal murder of Retro Girl, one of American's most beloved costumed heroes. "This is as difficult an adaptation as I've ever worked on. It can be done, it's just proving really difficult," he admitted.