This article explores the ways in which children’s television producers are making conscious efforts to include non-traditional gender representations in their shows. The aim of the research was to analyze and explain the complex creative processes that can increase the cultural visibility of diverse female characters in action animation made for school-age children. Thunderbirds Are Go, the 2015 re-boot of the 1960s cult classic Thunderbirds is used here as a case study; the producers of the new series were determined to challenge Thunderbirds’ gender stereotypes, while retaining the lead characters of the original. Using approaches grounded in production culture, media studies and political economy, this research draws on extended interviews with Thunderbirds Are Go executive producer Estelle Hughes. It reveals that despite successful efforts to achieve a more balanced representation of female characters in children’s action animation, commercial forces still exert enormous influence over how these shows are produced, distributed and experienced by their audiences.