The powers at Netflix have mixed, and now Captain Planet is ready to return to screens. The streamer will adapt the cartoon hero from the ’90s as a live-action collection.
Deadline broke the story on Thursday (July 17). The collection is being produced via Greg Berlanti‘s Berlanti Productions, together with Leonardo DiCaprio‘s manufacturing firm Appian Means and Warner Bros. Tv. The animated hero with a delicate spot for Earth’s environmental points is being delivered to the display screen by author Tara Hernandez, greatest recognized for her work on Mrs. Davis and The Huge Bang Concept.
Based mostly on an idea by Ted Turner, the unique present aired on TBS and in syndication, first as Captain Planet and the Planeteers in 1990 and later as The New Adventures of Captain Planet in 1996, instructing youngsters about environmental points via his Planeteers. The story follows 5 teenagers from completely different corners of the Earth who’re in a position to summon the eco-hero (voiced by David Coburn) via magical rings. Once they encountered a menace they couldn’t deal with alone, they mixed their powers of earth, hearth, wind, water, and coronary heart to name forth Captain Planet, who helped defeat the eco-villain of the week.
It has been an extended and arduous highway to deliver Captain Planet again to screens of any measurement since his collection led to 1996 (although he did briefly return in a particular episode of OK Okay.O.! Let’s Be Heroes in 2017).
Within the 2010s, Appian Means Productions and Paramount Footage tried to develop a live-action adaptation of the Earth-friendly hero. In keeping with stories, the script adopted a down-and-out Captain Planet who wanted the children to assist save him, somewhat than the opposite manner round.
Glen Powell was initially hooked up to co-write the function with Jono Matt, in addition to play the destitute Captain as he makes an attempt to rebuild his profession and the planet he swore to guard. However this was again in his Scream Queens days earlier than Prime Gun: Maverick and Twisters made him a family identify, so the probabilities of a blue-hued Powell saving the planet today through magical rings and a spiffy spandex costume are virtually nil. Powell is now not hooked up to the undertaking.
Captain Planet stays a outstanding half of popular culture because of heavy doses of millennial nostalgia and the occasional parody that surfaces. In 2011, Humorous or Die famously solid Don Cheadle as Captain Planet in a viral brief, whereas Robotic Rooster made him a recurring character of their stop-motion sketches. In 2021, the Rick and Morty episode “A Rickconvenient Mort” parodied a wrathful Planetina (voiced by Alison Brie), who was rescued by Morty after her “youngsters” (now of their late 40s) tried to promote her for revenue.
In 2025, the Captain discovered a brand new residence in print as a comic book e book via Dynamite Comics from author David Pepose and artist Eman Cassallos.
Netflix’s Captain Planet collection is at the moment in improvement. No casting or launch date has but been introduced.