While working on upcoming new issues for the ‘Powers’ comic books, writer Brian Michael Bendis talked to CBR about the status of the FX ‘Powers’ television pilot. Although FX has yet to make a decision as to how to move forward with the show, Bendis is holding out hope that it will not be shelved.
Currently, executives are still deciding whether or not to go ahead and reshoot several scenes in the pilot after the script underwent an extreme reworking by Charles “Chic” Eglee (‘The Walking Dead’, ‘The Shield’) to try and clarify the tone and concept. At early screenings, people had said they liked Jason Patric in the lead character role and the idea of the show was appealing enough for them to watch as a series, but the producers felt there were still issues that needed to be simplified for a mass audience.
“So that’s where we are now,” Bendis states, “The important stuff worked. There are rewrites happening as we speak and I talk with the other producers all the time”
Bendis has seen the pilot and explains why it has taken so long to get ‘Powers’ on the air:
“…FX is different from other networks. Other networks make a bunch of pilots and watch them once. They then test them and decide whether they want to put them on the air or not. If FX greenlights a pilot they’re 80 percent sure that they’re putting the show on the air. They reshoot pilots before they abandon them. From what I understand the ‘Sons of Anarchy’ pilot that aired was almost completely reshot from the original… So they look at it as a first draft of a five-year investment in a series, which I think makes their shows better. I think that’s why their success rate is so high. If a series doesn’t connect with an audience it isn’t from a lack of quality.”
A statement from Charles S. Dutton, who plays Capt. Cross in the pilot, indicated that a decision regarding the pilot would have to be made soon:
“Last I heard, without bugging FX,” he said to MTV, “is that they don’t know either … but they have to come up with something fast, because on March 1, everybody’s deal changes. If I was a betting man, I would be hedging the bet, because we’re getting close to that contract date.”
We can only presume that Dutton is talking about the date the central casts’ options expire thus making them no longer obligated to stay with the show. Not wanting fans to lose hope, Bendis tweeted this message telling fans that ‘Powers’ is still in the game:
Even with this waiting game, Bendis is excited about ‘Powers’:
“I can’t wait for people to see what I’ve seen which is Jason Patric looking just like a Mike Oeming drawing walking into a room and start questioning a subject. It was very cool.”
With the time and effort that’s already been put in this pilot, one would hope that the network would see the project through to at least air it as a movie. What do you think?
