DC’s newest TV show, Powerless, is not only very different from the comic giant’s other series—it’s a half-hour workplace comedy on NBC—but it also takes place in its own universe.
“This takes place in Charm City, a totally made-up city for this version of the show. We’re saying this takes place in Earth-P, which is its own universe within the entire DC multiverse,” explained executive producer Patrick Schumacker on the show’s Television Critics Association 2017 winter press tour panel.
The series, which was originally conceived as taking place at an insurance company that cleaned up the messes from superhero-related destruction, underwent some significant retooling several months into production. It evolved into a workplace comedy about a research and development team at a Wayne Industries subsidiary run by Bruce’s screw-up cousin.
“I’ve read some comments online where people assume, ‘Oh, they’re just leaning really hard into the Batman of it all because it’s Wayne Security.’ That’s not true. The idea is that we’re going to pull from the entire canon of the comics,” Schumacker said. “We want to show as much breadth of the DC universe as possible. You’re going to see characters that you’re familiar with if you are a hardcore comic book fan, and a lot of those heroes, I would [call them] underdogs in the grand scheme of things.”
Plus, you probably won’t see Batman at all unless Ben Affleck suddenly has some room in his schedule. Even if you see Batman’s hands, for example, “you can’t just have someone else’s hands,” executive producer Justin Halpern said. “If Affleck wanted to do it we could bring him on the show.”
While you might hear a familiar voice in the premiere, don’t expect to see anyone from the Justice League on screen. You will hear about them, though. “We reference them all the time,” Schumacker said. “The things they do in this world affect our characters.”
Powerless premieres Thursday, Feb. 2 at 8:30 p.m. on NBC. Are you looking forward to it? Let us know in the comments below!
Images: NBC
