Is Netflix’s live-action Pokémon TV series confirmed?
Netflix is all-in with its video game venture. It recently brought on Mike Verdu to make it happen and there has been numerous reports Netflix starting with mobile games, with leaks of a partnership with PlayStation too. Not to mention, it has an entire line-up of shows based on video games set to premiere later this 2021 and so on. With that said, a report by Variety claims that a new Pokemon project, similar to Ryan Reynolds’ Detective Pikachu film, is in the works at Netflix. 2019’s Detective Pikachu is widely considered one of the best video game movies of all time. As we’ve already mentioned earlier, it raked in quite the pretty penny at the box office. It starred Ryan Reynolds and Justice Smith in a live-action take on the pocket monster franchise that made full use of CGI magic to bring the popular fictional creatures to life. Although Smith himself confirmed that there is no longer a sequel in the works, it appears that Netflix is keen on building on its success with a live-action TV show. Unfortunately, what kind of TV show Netflix’s live-action Pokémon series is going to be is not yet known. Netflix hasn’t even acknowledged it publicly, which suggests that it is still very early in development. It might not even be true at all. However, if it is in the works, then we can only hope that Netflix doesn’t try to overdo it and sticks to the formula that has worked for the popular franchise over the past 26 years. If it’s any consolation, Henderson isn’t exactly foreign to bringing fictional series to TV life. He is the executive producer and showrunner of Lucifer, which is set to conclude following the premiere of its sixth season. In addition to this, he’s set to work on Netflix’s Shadecraft, another comic book adaptation of a comic that he wrote himself. So far, Netflix’s live-action adaptations based on video games, anime, and cartoons, have received a mixed reception. If nothing else, it will definitely be interesting to see what Netflix does with the Pokémon franchise.
