The Netflix live-action adaptation of “Captain Planet and the Planeteers,” the environmental superhero cartoon Ted Turner co-created in 1990, remains in active development at the streamer following Turner’s death Wednesday at 87. The project, set up at Netflix in July 2025 from Greg Berlanti’s Berlanti Productions and Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way, with Warner Bros. Television as the studio, is the most concrete piece of forward-looking “Captain Planet” news on the table as tributes to Turner pour in.
Turner died at his home in Lamont, Florida, surrounded by family, according to a release from Turner Enterprises first reported by CNN. The cable pioneer had been diagnosed with Lewy body dementia in 2018 and was hospitalized for pneumonia in 2025. Turner Enterprises confirmed the family has planned a private service, with a public memorial to be held later. In lieu of flowers, the family has asked for charitable contributions to the United Nations Foundation.
“Captain Planet and the Planeteers” ran for 113 episodes across six seasons from 1990 to 1996, first on TBS and in syndication, with DIC Enterprises producing the first three seasons and Hanna-Barbera handling the rest. Turner co-created the show with environmental filmmaker Barbara Pyle. Whoopi Goldberg originated the role of Gaia, the spirit of the Earth, with Margot Kidder later taking over. David Coburn voiced the title hero.
The Netflix series has been writing for some time. Tara Hernandez, the “Mrs. Davis” co-creator who spent a decade as a writer-producer on “The Big Bang Theory” and “Young Sheldon,” is penning the adaptation, Deadline first reported in July 2025. DiCaprio and Jennifer Davisson are executive producing through Appian Way. Berlanti, Sarah Schechter and Leigh London Redman are EPs through Berlanti Productions. Jono Matt, who co-wrote a long-stalled feature version with Glen Powell at Paramount in 2016, is on as a producer. Powell is no longer attached. Netflix declined to comment to Variety on the project’s status when news first broke last summer.
DiCaprio’s environmental record has shaped much of Appian Way’s documentary slate, including “Virunga,” “Fin,” “And We Go Green” and the Emmy-winning “The Path of the Panther.” Berlanti, who built out The CW’s Arrowverse with “Arrow,” “The Flash,” “Supergirl” and “Legends of Tomorrow,” is also producing Netflix’s live-action “Scooby-Doo” origin series and the Amazon horror thriller “Stillwater.” A premiere window for “Captain Planet” has not been announced.
The Captain Planet Foundation, the Atlanta nonprofit that grew out of the show in 1991 and is chaired by Turner’s eldest daughter Laura Turner Seydel, said Turner’s death will not change its work. President Leesa Carter-Jones told Atlanta News First on Wednesday that fans still associate the foundation with the cartoon. “And they still sing it to me always. Like I get serenaded constantly. It’s fantastic,” Carter-Jones said. She recalled the origin of the show in similar terms. “Ted Turner turned to Barbara Pyle and said, we need a superhero for the planet. We need to educate and entertain kids so they become part of the solution to this planetary crisis,” Carter-Jones said.
Tributes from CNN’s leadership focused on the news side of Turner’s empire rather than the cartoon. “Ted was an intensely involved and committed leader, intrepid, fearless and always willing to back a hunch and trust his own judgement,” Mark Thompson, chairman and CEO of CNN Worldwide, said in a statement. “He was and always will be the presiding spirit of CNN.”
Turner is survived by five children, 14 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. No tribute programming around “Captain Planet” has been announced by Warner Bros. Discovery, which now controls the Turner cable assets including TBS, TNT, TCM and Cartoon Network. The original 113 episodes stream on Tubi and the Roku Channel. The Netflix live-action series remains in development with no announced cast or premiere date.
