Gotta catch all them viewers
Do you want to be the very best? Like no-one ever was? Well, Netflix certainly wants just that, with their latest TV series that's in development.
According to sources, a live-action Pokemon TV series is in its early stages of development over at the streamer. Variety reports that 'Lucifer' showrunner Joe Henderson is attached to write and executive produce the series, and this is currently all of the information we have to go on the forthcoming creation.
Having made its debut in Japan in 1995, that's over 25 years that the franchise has been a part of popular culture. From trading cards to video games, multiple anime series and movies, to its first live-action blockbuster in 2019 - there is certainly a huge audience to be targeted here.
Joe Henderson, who was the showrunner and executive producer on Netflix's 'Lucifer' would have recently finished up his work on the fantasy/mystery series, with the sixth and final season arriving on September 10. It will be interesting to see what his take on the family-friendly franchise could be.
However, with this live-action Pokemon in such early stages of development, that's not necessarily a guarantee that it will come to fruition. Nintendo, who owns a stake in The Pokemon Company, has played their cards very close to their chest in terms of which IPs gets the TV series or movie treatment. Netflix was previously developing a 'Zelda' TV series for a number of years before it was ultimately scrapped - citing that Nintendo didn't like how knowledge of the TV show was leaked outside of Netflix.
But should this live-action Pokemon series begin to pick up speed, there's one element we cannot wait to see tackled on screen - Team Rocket. Will Jessie, James, and Meowth get their own backstory and become the unconventional villains of the story? Here's hoping. There's also the problem of having CGI animals fight against each-other, which will hopefully not be as weird as we're currently imagining (although it did work for 'Detective Pikachu').
Expect more information on the Netflix/Pokemon series in the future.