Live-action Pokémon series gets wild first trailer

You will be forgiven if you had totally forgotten that a live-action Pokémon series was a thing, if so, here’s your reminder.

Back in July 2021, it was revealed that a live-action Pokémon series from Netflix was in the works. Since that time, we’ve heard next to nothing in terms of its production progress. At the time, it was reported that the live-action series would be similar to the 2019 Detective Pikachu movie.

Check out our interview with the voice of Ash Ketchum below!

A rumour that circulated on social media in April 2023 was shared by Twitter user and insider, Kristian Harloff. “Things I am hearing: Netflix is weighing going from development to pre-production on a live-action Pokémon series. It's set to be the next flagship after Stranger Things,” he tweeted. “This is also why Ash's story in the anime came to an end.”

However, a series will air in Japan before the Netflix series arrives. In a tweet shared by SerebiiNet, the first trailer for the live-action Pokémon TV series called PokéTsume has been revealed with the first episode airing on the Japanese station TV Tokyo and will premiere on 19 October 2023.

The trailer in question looks very tongue-in-cheek and features signature Japanese humour. To be honest, even though I have no idea what’s being said, I like the look of it and I will be hoping that there will be a subtitled version of PokéTsume at some point in the near future.

In related news, the sequel to Detective Pikachu has been confirmed, Pokémon Stadium 2 is available for the Nintendo Switch, and a gamer admits to using a Master Ball to catch a Ditto.

As for what the future of the Pokémon series holds on the Nintendo Switch, at the time of writing, other than Detective Pikachu Returns which releases 6 October, the next mainline entry in the franchise is yet to be announced.