'Pokemon' Live-Action Series In The Works At Netflix From 'Lucifer' Co-Showrunner
"Very twisty," as a certain inquisitive Pikachu would say. It wasn't that long ago that Hollywood finally got in on the Pokemon phenomenon with Detective Pikachu, and now it's Netflix's turn. The streaming giant is gearing up for an original Pokemon live action series that's described, fittingly, as "akin" to the Ryan Reynolds and Justice Smith-starring film that released to much fanfare (and memes) in 2019.
According to Variety, Netflix regular Joe Henderson will be writing and executive producing the project, giving him quite a bit of control over the final product. Henderson and Netflix are already very familiar with one another, as Henderson has been attached to the popular Netflix series Lucifer as co-showrunner and executive producer since 2016. Henderson has also been hard at work developing the series adaptation of Shadecraft for Netflix, which is a comic book also written by Henderson (he'll be co-writing the pilot for that series, as well). Henderson has previous connections with another big streamer, having worked on Hulu's 11.22.63.
Netflix and Pokemon
This appears to be a very strategic decision on Netflix's part, as the streamer has gathered the rights to several Pokemon shows and movies in recent years. Pokemon: Indigo League, Pokemon Journeys, Pokemon The Movie: The Power of Us, and the four-part Pokemon Journeys: The Series are all currently available to stream on Netflix, with seemingly much more to come after this most recent news. Netflix doesn't do half measures, so it'd be a strong bet that there could be more planned projects in the development pipeline should this live action series prove to be a hit. Netflix has pivoted strongly to anime overall in recent years, with previous announcements regarding adaptations of Far Cry, Splinter Cell, and even Terminator.
Though Detective Pikachu didn't quite break out at the box office as much as many thought it might, the relative success of the film ("over $430 million worldwide on a reported budget of $150 million", as reported by Variety) appears to have convinced the famously copycat industry to emphatically double down on all things Pokemon. The wildly popular franchise captured the hearts of all my fellow millennials back in the halcyon days of the mid-1990s, leaving me to bite my tongue and smile while all my friends and classmates were obsessing over trading cards, cartoons, manga, and that whole Pokemon Go thing that took over an entire summer. Detective Pikachu was certainly charming enough, so who's to say this planned Netflix series won't deliver more of what the fans want?
Keep an eye on /Film as we bring you more developments on this project.