Deadline is reporting that Lucy Punch, who was to play Deena Pilgrim in Powers, has been cast in a FOX comedy pilot called Ned Fox In My Manny.

But what does this mean for Powers?

Tweeter Wesley Ambrecht asked Brian Michael Bendis himself, and here’s what he had to say:

“she was being recast by fx. but not because of talent. she’s amazing.”

If Punch is out, can we wait until Katee Sackhoff is free again? No?

Hopefully there will be some more Powers updates soon.

UPDATE: And here are some updates! Here’s what Bendis had to say on his Facebook page about the status of Powers TV:

“though lucy punch has moved on, powers tv is not dead. if it was i would tell you honest & true. new scripts have been ordered for more episodes & there will be news in may about how we are going forward. the network is behind us all the way. its quite nice. its going to be a long haul but its all about quality. i desperately want the best show we can make.”

It’s been talked about for three years now, and a pilot was shot last year, but it sounds like Powers will have to wait a little bit longer for TV – if it comes on to TV at all.

“We didn’t pick the pilot of Powers up; we went back and Chick Eglee, who had written it, did a fairly substantial rewrite that would require pretty extensive reshoots of the pilot,” THR reports FX president John Landgraf as saying. “Right now we’re in the process of deciding whether to pull the trigger on the reshoot.”

Landgraf refers to Powers as a “difficult adaptation” which interests him “but this is a really hard one.”

Decisions on what to do next will come within a few months.

PowersTV has had an influx of traffic recently, and we weren’t quite sure why at first.

It turns out, it’s because the spokeswoman in a recent series of advertisements for T-Mobile is Powers’ “Retro Girl” herself, Carly Foulkes.

She plays the role in the series pilot, which doesn’t have an air date but hopefully we’ll all be seeing it (and a series order!) soon.

In the Powers universe, the first Retro Girl is an extremely popular superheroine who ends up murdered. It is her killing that pushes forth the series’ first major arc.

With a lot of people talking about her these days, that should count as another reason for FX to pick the series up already.

Possible good news on the Powers front… while it seemed things were between Powers and Outlaw Country for a spot on the FX line-up, the cable network has now passed on the latter.

However, Powers will be going through some redevelopment, including some “retooling and reshoots.”

Creator Brian Michael Bendis seems to think this is “pretty good news” as Sons Of Anarchy also went through the same process.

Stay tuned for more Powers TV news as it becomes available…

Bailee Madison plays Calista in the Powers TV pilot. In a recent interview with Spinoff Online about Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark she answered some of the inevitable questions about doing Powers.

“I love Calista! When you first see her in the beginning of the show, there’s already kind of a thought, like there’s something different about her. She has a secret,” Madison told the site. “The truth is that she does, and we don’t reveal it in the pilot.”

“If the show does get picked up, there are some really fun things that my character is able to do. She’s such a sweet girl, but in the same way she’ll kick some butt if she needs to. She’s kind of raising herself in a way and … she’s got such spunk, some kind of sarcastic energy, but in a cute way, in a fun way that’s appropriate,” she continued.

“It is so true to the comic,” she assured. “It’s like you’re watching a comic book. Everybody looks the same [as they do on the page]. I had pitch-black bangs, I was wearing a wardrobe that you’d imagine her to have, and all the detailed sound and special effects are so realistic that I think when you see it, you’re just going to want to hit pause so you can look at all the details.”

To read the entire interview, where Madison talks about how she manages to read Powers while avoiding some of its salty language, visit CBR’s Spinoff Online.

The Chicago Sun-Times tonight posted the first image of Jason Patric in character as Christian Walker in the Powers pilot.

Enjoy:

Deadline.com today is reporting that Vinnie Jones has landed the role of Johnny Royalle in the Powers pilot.

Jones is no stranger to heroic productions. He played the Juggernaut in X-Men: The Last Stand and Scales in this year’s short-lived The Cape.

Brian Michael Bendis has confirmed on his official Twitter feed that Supernatural and Veronica Mars fan favorite Alona Tal has been cast in Powers as Zora.

Here’s how Wikipedia describes the character (but beware of spoilers if you’re unfamiliar with the Powers world!).

ZORA – Deceased. A power, like Christian Walker she appeared to have immortality, but unlike him, she possessed a greater capacity for memory. She and Walker knew each other for years but according to her, for much longer since the time of Ancient China. They were shortly engaged before she was killed by a government-created power known as Boogie Girl who went insane. Zora claimed that her abilities came from her complete lack of belief in all things spiritual and her acceptance that she was her own God.

When we first see Zora in the Powers pilot, she is “shrouded in white flame and orbs of plasma that swirl around her” – unless, of course, a TV budget wouldn’t allow for that.

AOLTV’s Maureen Ryan has revealed that LOST’s “Man in Black” Titus Welliver has been cast in FX’s Powers pilot in the role of Triphammer.

Here’s how Ryan describes the character:

Triphammer is described by the network as both “a genius and a narcissist,” a combination of Steve Jobs and Donald Trump. He’s not just a powerful force in his own right, he has invented technology that can both bestow and remove superhuman abilities.

If Powers goes to series, it will be a recurring role. In the comics, Triphammer wears a suit of armor that gives him a strength much like Iron Man.

You can read the AOLTV piece which broke the news here.

Co-creator Brian Michael Bendis is in Chicago now on the set of Powers, and today, he Tweeted this photo of the Powers police department:

You can follow Bendis on Twitter here. Tell him @PowersTV sent you!