Imagine a whacky sitcom starring Vanessa Hudgens, Danny Pudi, Alan Tudyk, and Ron Funches. Sounds like a recipe for success, right? Now… set it in the DC Universe. Powerless was a canceled sitcom, created by Justin Halpern and Patrick Schumacker, which ran for only 12 episodes before being canceled by NBC. While showrunners Justin Halpern and Patrick Schumacker have since found major success with the animated shows Harley Quinn and Kite Man: Hell Yeah!, Powerless was considered a major failure by NBC, despite its modest, but dedicated fan base.

Speaking to ComicBook.com, Schumacker and Halpern reminisced about their time as co-showrunners on Powerless. Set in the DC Universe, the series focuses on powerless (so that’s where it gets its name from?) employees at Wayne Security, who make products for regular citizens of Gotham and Metropolis to prevent them from becoming collateral damage aftr superheroes fight supervillains. “We were very fortunate to have come into that show in several ways but like, one, it was kind of our introduction to DC just as, like, an entity,” said Schumacker. The pair started out as consulting producers on the series, before taking over responsibilities as co-showrunners.

As one might be able to tell from its comedic cast, and hilarious premise, Powerless was a surprisingly uplifting and funny show for a series set in the otherwise dark DC Universe. The pair revealed that their influences came from the Silver Age of comics (1956–1970), which featured bright colors and zany characters. Schumacker continued:

“When we did become the showrunners, we did kind of fundamentally change, it started out as like an insurance company that dealt with the fallout of superhero battles and then we sort of went on more of a Better Off Ted angle, where it was more about gadgetry and stuff. And I think our inclination, at least, was to embrace more of like the Silver Age kind of like zaniness.”

Powerless Being Canceled Meant the Show Was Creatively Free

Powerless was originally created to be a long-running series which could introduce the most casual of TV audiences to the DC Universe. However, during production on Season 1, NBC had already decided they didn’t want to renew the series. Only 12 episodes aired, with the remainder of Season 1 releasing on TVNZ+ the day after the cancellation.

No showrunner wants to hear that their series isn’t being renewed. However, for Schumacker and Halpern, it came as a kind of relief, as the pair could go all-in on the final episodes, making them as crazy and eccentric as they wanted, with minimal oversight from NBC. Schumacker explained:

“This is a good kind of, I think, anecdote of like TV in a nutshell, and sort of success in failure is just this idea that I think that the network, at a certain point they were sort of like ‘we’re not going to order any more of these.’ They didn’t cancel it, but they were definitely like no longer inclined to prioritize the show, let’s say and with that sort of came a hands-off approach from them and they didn’t sort of put any reins on us as for as the wackiness.”