Superheroes have taken over television and streaming sites more and more but NBC is bringing the focus back to normal people in its latest planned series, "Powerless," which has already confirmed Vanessa Hudgens as part of its regular cast.
"Powerless" features characters based on the DC universe but the main focus is on the "normal" people in a world where powered individuals exist. These characters suffer through the aftermath of the destruction left by the superheroes, and by "suffer through," we mean get overwhelmed with all the paperwork for insurance claims.
The series will be a single-camera comedy and will follow the style of other office sitcoms such as "Parks and Recreation" and "The Office."
Hudgens will play Emily Locke, an insurance claims adjuster who is passionate about her job despite being employed in one of the worst insurance companies. She is efficient and gets the work done but her frustration increases as powered people do more damage in the city she works in.
"This is a world where superheroes are not only just on green screen out the window of this insurance office, but they're also running into you on the street and wreaking havoc [...] It's a world where there's a whole population of superheroes with all sorts of all challenges themselves," NBC Executive Jennifer Salke said.
The best part is that DC apparently did not declare any of its heroes off-limits so there's a possibility of seeing the more established ones like Superman flying by or Batman fighting a villain on the roof of the building across the street.
"It's a question of speaking parts and it's a wide range of superheroes," Salk said.
The series is DC's first foray into a non-superhero-focused storyline on television and Hudgens' first casting as a regular and a lead in a sitcom.
