Report: Live-action Pokémon series in the works at Netflix

Netflix is developing a live-action Pokémon series akin to 2019’s well regarded Pokémon Detective Pikachu, Variety reported on Monday. Joe Henderson, executive producer of Netflix’s Lucifer, is the writer and executive producer.

The development is the latest in a series of Pokémon Netflix offerings, whose recent entries include Pokémon Journeys: The Series, which premiered last summer, and the CG remake Pokémon: The First Movie (titled Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back — Evolution) earlier in the spring of 2020.

Henderson’s Lucifer will launch its sixth and last season in September. He also wrote 2018’s Skyward for Image Comics (with artist Lee Garbett), which was nominated for an Eisner Award at San Diego Comic-Con 2019.

The series also follows Netflix’s ongoing push to attract anime fans, including with live-action adaptations of popular franchises. Cowboy Bebop, starring John Cho and Daniella Pineda, will premiere this fall, and One Piece, an adaptation of that popular anime and manga, is also in development.

Pokémon Detective Pikachu did very well for Warner Bros. and star Ryan Reynolds, grossing $433 million worldwide against a $150 million budget and is both Rotten Tomatoes’ and Metacritic’s highest-rated video game adaptation.