The Rise Of The Power Heroes is a live-action superhero teen drama developed by George Doty IV and Hayes Jackson and is based on the Les Pyjamasques book series by Romuald Racioppo and the animated children series, PJ Masks. The original crew behind the animated series (Christian De Vita, Olivier Dumont, Marc Seal & Tim Bain) 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 Blake, Amaya Torres, Greg Warren, Newton Scott, An Yu 'Annie' Chen, Ivan Brennan, Brooke Stanton, Lily Taylor and Dylan Foster 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.
Characters[]
The Power Heroes[]
- Connor Blake/Catboy (portrayed by Elias Harger) - 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 Torres/Owlette (portrayed by Siena Agudong) - 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 Warren/Gekko (portrayed by Casey Simpson) - 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 Foster/Armadylan (portrayed by Jacob Tremblay) - 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 'Annie' Chen/Dragon Girl (portrayed by Scout Hamrick) - 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 Scott/Newton Star (portrayed by Caleb McLaughlin) - 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 Brennan/Ice Cub (portrayed by Shaheen Jafargholi) - 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 Taylor/Lilyfay (portrayed by Lizzy Greene) - 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.
- Brooke Stanton/Bastet (portrayed by Nico Parker) - a brown-eyed 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 of mixed race.
- 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 Martin (portrayed by Nicholas Hamilton) - 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 Hopkins/Luna Girl (portrayed by Teagan Croft) - 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.
- Morgan Tsukino/Motsuki (portrayed by Momona Tamada) - 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.
- Nathan Nakayama/Night Ninja (portrayed by Gordon Cormier) - 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
- Howard Wolff/Howler (portrayed by Jack Dylan Grazer) - 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.
- Rachel Wolff/Rip (portrayed by Anna Cathcart) - 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 D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai) - 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.
- Olivia Barton/Octobella (portrayed by Amybeth McNulty) - 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.
- Percival (voiced by Rob Tinkler) - A mumbling lobster who is Octobella's henchman.
- Mokichi Nakagawa/Munki-gu (portrayed by Dallas Liu) - 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.
- Patrick Brooks/Pharaoh Boy (portrayed by Kolton Stewart) - 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 Brooke. 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 Brooke, he is also of mixed descent.
- Carly Shepard (portrayed by Peyton List) - a green-eyed 16-year-old girl with blonde 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 competitive. 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.
- Carter "Cartoka" Shepard (portrayed by Spencer List) - a brown-eyed 16-year-old boy with blonde 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 competitive. 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.
Recurring Cast[]
- Cameron Kelly (portrayed by Logan Allen) - a Canadian brown-eyed, brown-haired (dyed blonde styled in dreadlocks) 16-year-old boy of West African, Scottish and Irish descent. He is in the same class as the PJ Masks team.
- Felix Taylor (portrayed by Rainbow Sun Francks) - a teacher who teaches Connor, Amaya, Greg, Dylan, Anyu and Newton’s class and is their homeroom teacher. Whenever he discovers that something’s wrong, he says that it’s weird.
- Marie Kelly (portrayed by Sydney Bullock) - a Canadian brown-eyed, brown-haired 15-year-old girl who is Cameron’s sister. She is in the same class as the PJ Masks team.
- Jenny Davis (portrayed by Elodie Grace Orkin) - a Canadian blue-eyed, blonde-haired 16-year-old girl. She is in the same class as the PJ Masks team.
- Meg Green (portrayed by Gabriella Surodjawan) - a Canadian brown-eyed, brown-haired (dyed blonde) 16-year-old girl of South Asian descent. She is in the same class as the PJ Masks team.
- Peter Lewis (portrayed by Alex Wagenman) - a British-South African blue-eyed, blonde-haired 16-year-old boy of British, Irish and Dutch descent. He is in the same class as the PJ Masks team.
- Timmy Sharp (portrayed by Jake Goodman) - a Canadian brown-eyed, brown-haired 16-year-old boy. He is in the same class as the PJ Masks team.
- Tommy Anderson (portrayed by Dale Whibley) - an American brown-eyed, brown-haired 16-year-old boy. He is in the same class as the PJ Masks team.
- Steven Phillips (portrayed by Jake Bongiovi) - a British-South African brown-eyed, red-haired 16-year-old boy. He is in the same class as the PJ Masks team.
- Tanya Lee (portrayed by Priah Ferguson) - a Canadian hazel/green-eyed, black-haired 16-year-old girl. She is in the same class as the PJ Masks team.
- Kate Barnes (portrayed by Delia Lisette Chambers) - a Canadian brown-eyed, brown-haired 16-year-old girl of mixed descent. She is in the same class as the PJ Masks team.
Episodes[]
Season 1[]
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Director | Writer | Release date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Into the Night" | Stewart Hendler | George Doty IV & Hayes Jackson | September 18, 2025 |
| 2 | 2 | "Team Bonding" | Steve Wright | George Doty IV & Hayes Jackson | September 18, 2025 |
| 3 | 3 | "Playing With the Big Kids" | James Head | Marc Seal | September 18, 2025 |
| 4 | 4 | "Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Right" | Stefan Scaini | Ethan Banville | September 18, 2025 |
| 5 | 5 | "Year of the Dragon" | Melanie Orr | Ramona Barckert | September 18, 2025 |
| 6 | 6 | "Crossing the Line" | Peter DeLuise | Marc Seal | September 18, 2025 |
| 7 | 7 | "Lift Your Spirit" | Siobhan Devine | George Doty IV & Hayes Jackson | September 18, 2025 |
| 8 | 8 | "Voices In My Head" | James Head | Ethan Banville | September 18, 2025 |
| 9 | 9 | "Heart of the Battle" | Michael Kennedy | Gillian Horvath | September 18, 2025 |
| 10 | 10 | "PJ Mask Down" | Steve Wright | Marc Seal | September 18, 2025 |
| 11 | 11 | "Through the Eyes of a Wolf" | Peter DeLuise | Ramona Barckert | September 18, 2025 |
| 12 | 12 | "On The Edge" | Stefan Scaini | Gillian Horvath | September 18, 2025 |
| 13 | 13 | "Trust No One" | Melanie Orr | Alejandro Alcoba | September 18, 2025 |
| 14 | 14 | "Whatever It Takes" | Siobhan Devine | George Doty IV & Hayes Jackson | September 18, 2025 |
Production[]
Development[]
The series was produced by Boathouse Entertainment, Frog Box Productions, Dolphin Entertainment and Lionsgate Television. It 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. De Vita has appointed George Doty IV, executive producer of Max & Shred and writer of iCarly, & Hayes Jackson, writer and executive producer of Lab Rats to develop and create the series. He also appoints Marc Seal and Tim Bain, writers of the original animated series, to become the executive producers of the show. Executive producers include Olivier Dumont from Frog Box Productions and Bill O'Dowd from Dolphin Entertainment. 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 on a minimal budget despite the CGI.
Casting[]
After multiple auditions from multiple teen actors from well-known sitcoms from Disney, Nickelodeon and Netflix, American actor Elias Harger, known for portraying Max Fuller in Fuller house has been chosen to portray Connor Blake/Catboy. Filipino-American actress Siena Agudong, who portrayed Nick from No Good Nick was also chosen for the role as Amaya Torres/Owlette. American actors Casey Simpson and Lizzy Greene, known for portraying Ricky and Dawn Harper respectively from Nicky, Ricky, Dicky and Dawn will be portraying Greg Warren/Gekko and Lily Taylor/Lilyfay respectively. Canadian actor Jacob Tremblay, known for portraying Auggie from the 2017 film Wonder will portray Dylan Foster/Armadylan. Asian-American actress Scout Hamrick, only known for having a smaller role in Stranger Things will portray Annie Chen/An Yu. On the topic of Stranger Things, American Actor Caleb McLaughlin, known for portraying Lucas from Stranger Things will portray Newton Scott/Newton Star. Welsh actor, Shaheen Jafargholi, who portrayed Marty Kirkby in Casualty, will portray Ivan Brennan/Ice Cub, who is portrayed as handicapped. Jafargholi revealed he had to learn how to fake an American/Canadian accent due to the series' Canadian setting. English actress Nico Parker, known for portraying Sara Miller from The Last Of Us will portray Brooke Stanton/Bastet. Juan Luis Bonilla will reprise his role as PJ Robot.
Australian actor, Nicholas Hamilton, known for portraying Henry Bowers from It Chapter One and Chapter Two will portray Romeo Martin. Ron Pardo and Kirrilee Berger announced that they will reprise their roles as Robot and Robette respectively. Fellow Australian actress, Teagan Croft known for portraying Raven from Netflix series, Titans, will portray Celine Hopkins/Luna Girl. Canadian actors Momona Tamada and Gordon Cormier, known for portraying Ty Lee and Aang from the 2024 live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender respectively will portray Morgan Tsukino/Motsuki and Nathan Nakayama/Night Ninja respectively. From the same series, Dallas Liu who portrayed Zuko will also portray Mokichi Nakagawa/Munki-Gu. The Wolfy Kids will be portrayed by American actor Jack Dylan Grazer known for portraying Freddy Freeman from Shazam! (Howard Wolff/Howler), Canadian actress Anna Cathcart known for portraying Kitty from XOXO Kitty (Rachel Wolff/Rip) and Canadian actor D'Pharoah Woon-A-Tai knwon for portraying Bear Smallhill from Reservation Dogs (Kevin Wolff). Canadian-based Irish actress, Amybeth McNulty, known for portraying Anne from Anne With An 'E' will portray Olivia Barton/Octobella and Rob Tinkler will reprise his role as Percival. Canadian actor, Kolton Stewart, known for Some Assembly Required will be portraying Patrick Brooks/Pharoah Boy. American twin actors, Peyton and Spencer List will be portraying Carly and Carter/Cartoka Shepard respectively.
American actors Logan Allen, Sydney Bullock, Elodie Grace Orkin, Gabriella Surodjawan, Alex Wagenman, Jake Bongiovi and Priah Ferguson and Canadian actors Rainbow Sun Francks, Jake Goodman, Dale Whibley and Delia Lisette Chambers will all have recurring roles.
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.
Release[]
The series will be released on the PJ Masks animated series' 10th anniversary on Disney+.
Trivia[]
- The allies from the original PJ Masks might also return to the series though the possibility is currently unknown.
- Christian De Vita, Olivier Dumont, Marc Seal and Tim Bain are all involved in the original animated series.