The Rise Of The Power Heroes

The Rise Of The Power Heroes is a live-action superhero teen drama based on the Les Pyjamasques book series by Romuald Racioppo and the animated children series, PJ Masks. The original crew behind the animated series will be involved in the live-action adaptation. Unlike the animated series, the live-action series is aimed for an older audience (mainly the original fans of the animated PJ Masks who grew up).

Premise
In 2015 during the day, ordinary 16-year-olds Connor Rodriguez, Amaya Reyes, Greg Connors, Newton Twain, An Yu 'Anne' Chen, Ivan Patel, Bahia Ibrahim, Lily Watson and Dylan Anderson go to high school in the fictional town of Tarabiscoville located in the outer suburbs of Vancouver, British Columbia like any other teen. However, at night, they transform into Catboy, Owlette, Gekko, Newton Star, Dragon Girl, Ice Cub, Bastet, Lilyfay and Armadylan and form the team, the Power Heroes. As the Power Heroes, they fight villains such as Romeo, Luna Girl, Motsuki, Night Ninja, The Wolfy Kids, Munki Gu, Octobella, Percival, Pharoah Boy and the Speedy Twins.

The Power Heroes
Connor Rodriguez/Catboy (portrayed by TBA) is a blue-eyed 16-year-old boy with brown hair. When he transforms, he wears a blue cat costume. His powers include super speed, super-sensitive hearing, high jump, and strikes. Unlike the animated series, his ethnicity is confirmed to be Latino (Mexican) and is more mature rather than childish and is also partially deaf in both ears which requires hearing aids. Though his outfit remains the same as the animated series.

Amaya Reyes/Owlette (portrayed by TBA) is a brown-eyed bespectacled 16-year-old girl. She has dark brown hair with a pink, wing-shaped hair clip. When she transforms she wears a red owl costume and her eyes turn red. Her powers include nighttime vision, the ability to fly, the ability to make a strong gust of wind from her wings, and super feathers. Unlike the animated series, her ethnicity is confirmed to be Southeast Asian (Thai and Filipino), is more mature and is also bisexual. Her appearance is also a lot different than her animated counterpart, her hair is kept shoulder-length and has curtain bangs and her dress, leggings and mary jane shoes were replaced by a red elbow-length shirt with pink sleeves (in a similar design as her animated counterpart), black jeans and red and white shoes. It is also confirmed that she has myopia.

Greg Connors/Gekko (portrayed by TBA) is a green-eyed, blonde-haired 16-year-old boy. When he transforms, he wears a green lizard costume with a thick reptilian tail and fins on top of his head. His powers are super strength, invisibility, sticking on walls for scaling, and shields. Unlike the animated series, he is more mature (although slightly childish). Though his outfit remains the same in the animated series.

Dylan Anderson/Armadylan (portrayed by TBA) is a brown-eyed, brown haired 16-year-old boy. When he transforms, he wears a brown armadillo costume. His abilities include super-strength, producing earthquakes, and converting to a ball to roll on surfaces or travel underground. Unlike the animated series, he has a daytime form and is more mature and experienced. He also doesn't get easily tricked by villains. His daytime outfit consists of a brown jacket over a white shirt, tan cargo pants and brown and white shoes.

An Yu 'Anne' Chen/Dragon Girl (portrayed by TBA) is a brown-eyed 16-year-old girl. She has dark brown hair tied into pigtails. When she transforms her eyes turn red and she wears a red and gold qipao-inspired superhero dragon suit. She wields a bo staff that can also turn into a magic flute. Unlike the animated series, she has a daytime form, is more mature, not a deity and is also bisexual. Her daytime outfit consists of a red and gold jacket over a white shirt, black jogging pants and red and white shoes. She is of East Asian (Chinese) descent.

Newton Twain/Newton Star (portrayed by TBA) is a green-eyed bespectacled 16-year-old boy with brown hair. When he transforms, he has a red and yellow costume. His powers include shields, surfing with asteroids, creating white orbs, and the ability to fly. Unlike the animated series, he is more mature and less introverted and shy. He is of African descent.

Ivan Patel/Ice Cub (portrayed by TBA) is a handicapped brown-eyed 16-year-old boy with brown hair. When he transforms, he is no longer handicapped and has a white polar bear costume although he still needed the snowboard to get around. His powers include super snowballs, polar bear sniff and polar bear hug. Unlike the animated series, he is more mature and similar to Connor, he advocates for the disabled. He is of South Asian (Indian) descent.

Lily Watson/Lilyfay (portrayed by TBA) is a blue-eyed 16-year-old girl with blonde hair tied into pigtails. When she transforms, she wears a white and grey fairy/snowflake costume. Her powers include creating white orbs, flight, surfing with asteroids and creating stellar snow. Unlike the animated series, she is more mature and her costume also included wings.

Bahia Ibrahim/Bastet (portrayed by TBA) is a brown-eyed hijabi (though her hijab is occasionally off) 16-year-old girl with long curly brown hair. When she transforms, she wears a yellow serval costume and her eyes turn red. Her main power is the Sun Disc, a weapon composed out of pure light that can be used as shield, teleportation, throwing disc and for heat. Unlike the animated series, she joined the Power Heroes during their first formation and wasn't mistaken for a villain and is more mature. She is a practicing muslim and of Middle Eastern (Egyptian) descent.

PJ Robot (voiced by Juan Luis Bonilla) a robot who is in charge of the Power Heroes' headquarters. However, he also has a daytime identity unlike the animated series where he was a seventh generation roomba.

Villains
Romeo Mecano (portrayed by TBA) is a blue-eyed 16-year-old boy with black hair with a white streak. During the day, he was smart but also a bully towards the power heroes but at night, he is a mad scientist and an inventor.


 * Robot (voiced by Ron Pardo) - A robot that is Romeo's henchman who is in disguise of a ball during the day.
 * Robette (voiced by Kirrilee Berger) - A female counterpart of Robot who is in disguise of a ball during the day.
 * Toolbox – A walking toolbox who works with Romeo, and in case of making inventions Toolbox carries Romeo's tools. During the day, it is just a regular toolbox.

Celine Nightingale/Luna Girl (portrayed by TBA) is a blue-eyed 16-year-old girl with shaggy black hair who wears a black crop top over a grey sweater, black skirt, black leggings and black boots during the day. She is also a mean girl, especially towards Amaya, Anne and Bahia. During the night, she transforms into Luna Girl and her appearance is similar to her cartoon counterpart, especially her hair which became silver-grey with sparkles. Her main weapons are her Luna Magnet and Luna Board which she uses as a mode of transportation. She also has her moths as her sidekicks.

Miki Tsukino/Motsuki (portrayed by TBA) is a brown-eyed 14-year-old girl with shoulder-length black hair styled in a hime-cut who wears a lilac sweater, purple pants and white shoes. She also has a purple moth hairclip on her hair. Unlike her animated counterpart, she gets along with Celine, especially during the night and work together. However, she also has a soft side despite being feisty. During the night, she wears a lilac and purple moth costume with wings, similar to the Power Heroes' costume and her eyes turn pink. In which she is a lot different than her cartoon counterpart where she was a moth humanoid. She is of Japanese descent and Celine's adoptive sister and her appearance is inspired by Hinata Hyuga from Naruto.

Nichika Nakayama/Night Ninja (portrayed by TBA) is a brown-eyed 16-year-old boy with black hair who wears a navy blue shirt, white pants and blue and white shoes during the day. He was also a bully towards the Power Heroes. During the night however, his eyes turn blue and he wears a navy blue ninja costume with stars and has henchmen known as Ninjalinos. He uses partially dried latex balls called Sticky Splats to trap his opponents, and smoke bombs to teleport from one place to another. He is of Japanese descent and his appearance is inspired by Sasuke Uchiha from Naruto.


 * Ninjalinos (portrayed by TBA) - the foot soldiers of Night Ninja

The Wolfy Kids are a pack of werewolf siblings whoseonly power is shouting out red energy rings which would blow away things in a gale-like fashion who were normal humans in the day consisting of:


 * Howard Wolff/Howler (portrayed by TBA) is a blue-eyed 16-year-old boy with messy black hair who wears a red shirt under a black jacket, blue jeans and red and white shoes. During the night, he transforms into a werewolf and his hair now has white streaks, his eyes turn violet and there are traces of fur around his body. He is the leader of his pack and is a troublemaker both day and night.
 * Rita Wolff/Rip (portrayed by TBA) is a brown-eyed 15-year-old girl with messy brown hair styled in a pixie cut with a couple of bone-shaped barrettes, a yellow shirt under a black jacket, gray plaid skirt, red-and-black striped leggings and yellow and white shoes. During the night, she transforms into a werewolf, her eyes turn magenta and her hair turns dark magenta as well as traces of fur around her body. Like her brother, she is also a troublemaker.
 * Kevin Wolff (portrayed by TBA) is a blue-eyed 14-year-old boy with black hair styled in a shaggy bowl cut with long bangs who wears a black-and-teal jacket over a black-and-white striped shirt, dark gray jeans and black and white shoes. Unlike his siblings, he wasn't a troublemaker and is a good student in school. During the night, he transforms into a werewolf, his eyes turn cyan, his bangs grew longer covering his eyes and he has traces of fur around his body.

Bella O'Connell/Octobella (portrayed by TBA) is a blue-eyed 16-year-old girl with long auburn hair who wears a purple shirt, green cargo pants and purple and white shoes as well as a purple crystal necklace during the day. Like all the nighttime villains during the day, she is also a bully. During the night, she takes the form of an octopus, with nine tentacles on her head and six more on her lower body, implying that she is more of a hexapus. She has blue eyes and a light turquoise face with yellow markings. The majority of her body is turquoise with blue and yellow bands around her body and tentacles and one dark aqua dorsal fin each on her forearms. She would usually live in the school pool or the school pond. Her abilities include throwing underwater tornadoes, invisibility, making various spells using crystals, hypnotizing people to play using glowing orbs, and sonic screams.

Mun Wa Gao/Munki-gu (portrayed by TBA) is a brown-eyed 16-year-old boy with messy black hair who wears a red and gold jacket over a white shirt, black pants and red and white shoes during the day. He is also a bully like other nighttime villains during the day and has an arch rivalry with Anne, largely because she was a girl who knows kung fu. During the night, he transforms into a monkey with grey fur and red designs on his face. He also wears a red and gold shirt, a black and yellow vest, and a black belt with a flower on it. His powers include imitating other people's voices, flying with his magical boots, and pulling an infinite amount of bananas out of nowhere.
 * Percival (voiced by Rob Tinkler) - A mumbling lobster who is Octobella's henchman.

Pasha Hassan/Pharaoh Boy (portrayed by TBA) is a blue-eyed 16-year-old boy with black hair who wears an off-white long-sleeved shirt, blue jeans and white shoes during the day. Like the other nighttime villains during the day, he is a bully and has an arch rivalry with Bahia due to their conflicting knowledge of Islam. Often times when Bahia doesn't wear a hijab, Pasha would point that out and call Bahia rude for not covering her hair when it was her choice to wear the hijab or not. During the night, he transforms into Pharoah boy where his appearance is a mummy with purple eyes. His main weapon is the Staff of Ra. Like Bahia, he is of Egyptian descent and a conservative muslim.

The Speedy Twins are a pair of jock twins consisting of:
 * Carly Sheh (portrayed by TBA) is a brown-eyed 16-year-old girl with black hair with a purple streak in the middle styled in a short pixie cut who wears a red jacket over a white shirt, red pants and red and white shoes during the day. Like other nighttime villains during the day, she is a bully and she and her twin brother, Cartoka, were both competetive. During the night, her appearance is similar to her cartoon counterpart though more human rather than humanoid, eliminating the pointed ears and blue and red skin. However, her outfits remain the same. She is of Chinese descent.
 * Cartoka Sheh (portrayed by TBA) is a brown-eyed 16-year-old boy with black hair with purple at the tips who wears a red jacket over a white shirt, red pants and red and white shoes during the day. Like other nighttime villains during the day, he is a bully and he and his twin sister, Carly, were both competetive. During the night, his appearance is similar to his cartoon counterpart though more human rather than humanoid, eliminating the pointed ears and blue and red skin. However, his outfits remain the same. He is of Chinese descent.

Development
The series was developed when Christian De Vita decided to adapt the PJ Masks series into a live-action series for older children and for teens since the original audience of the cartoon series had already grown up. He also decided to make the characters more realistic and mature as well as making the setting more clearer. Instead of the ambiguous setting of the cartoon, The Rise Of The Power heroes has a clearer setting, 2015 in Tarabiscoville located in the outer suburbs of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The decision to set the series in Canada is due to the majority of the voice actors from the PJ Masks cartoon being from Canada. 2015 was also the year the PJ Masks first aired. The series will have 2 seasons. CGI animation will also be used for the series similar to majority of live-action superhero series, however, it is minimal when the Power Heroes are in their daytime forms. The vehicles were also cut to keep the series minimal despite the CGI.

Casting
Casting is yet to be announced, though a diverse cast with their age range being 16-21 is needed for both the heroes and the villains. A Hispanic and deaf actor is needed for Connor/Catboy, Asian actors were needed for Amaya/Owlette (any Southeast Asian), Anne/Dragon Girl (any East Asian), Ivan/Ice Cub (South Asian as well as disabled), Miki/Motsuki (any East Asian), Nichika/Night Ninja (any East Asian), Mun Wa/Munki-Gu (any East Asian) and Carly and Cartoka (any East Asian), Middle Eastern actors were needed for Bahia/Bastet and Pasha/Pharaoh Boy and Caucasian for the rest of the characters.

Filming
Tarabiscoville is filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Tarabiscoville High School (where the Power Heroes and villains attend) is filmed in Trinity Western University. In order to cut budget costs, the Power Heroes will be living in the dormitories instead of the neighbourhood and the headquarters will also be filmed within the campus. The series was initially going to be filmed in Montreal, Quebec, Canada to pay homage to the original French book series and the series also being French-produced.

Music
Although some music is recycled from the PJ Masks series, the music in the series also featured popular Canadian artists ranging from Bryan Adams to Avril Lavigne.