Despite the total absence of information about the
project since its initial announcement, a new rumor suggests that the
live-action adaptation of “ Pokémon ”
on Netflix is still in development and with a rather surprising choice of
protagonist . The project was first confirmed to the public in July
2021 through an exclusive report from Variety's Joe Otterson, who reported that
the live-action “Pokémon” series had received the green light thanks to its
alleged internal sources. However, no concrete details about the story, cast,
or other aspects of the production were revealed at the time, and for
the next three years, there was no further news about Netflix's attempt to
"catch them all."
This changed until today, when well-known
leaker Daniel 'DanielRPK' Richtman mentioned the project on
his personal Patreon account. As summarized, Richtman stated that,
according to his own sources, the series is still on and is in full production .
In addition, he revealed an exciting new fact: the protagonist of the
series would not be Ash Ketchum or an original character, but Red, the
“original trainer” of the First Generation games.
For those unfamiliar with this character
by name, Red is the baseball cap-wearing protagonist of the original Pokémon
games. But far from being an isolated character, Red,
thanks to his status as the first playable character in the franchise, has
established himself as one of the most iconic heroes of the series, appearing
as the secret final boss of the Second Generation games. (Gold, Silver, and
Crystal), the Battle Tree boss in Sun, Moon, UltraSun, and UltraMoon, and as a
playable character in the Super Smash Bros. series since Brawl.
Additionally, Red (or at least a version
of him) is also the main protagonist of the manga “Pokémon Adventures,” written
by Hidenori Kusaka and illustrated by Mato and Satoshi Yamamoto. This
manga offers a version of the franchise that is both more realistic and
fantastical, where Red leads the first Red, Green & Blue saga and then
continues to appear as a supporting protagonist in the rest of the series. It
is interesting to note that Red served as a direct inspiration for Ash Ketchum
in the “Pokémon” anime.
Netflix's decision to go with Red as the
lead instead of Ash is notable, especially considering that, given the anime's
enormous success around the world, they might have been expected to capitalize
on the popularity of the widely recognizable main character to attract
audiences to their new project. However, a
possible explanation for this choice could be that, while Red has developed a
certain character, Ash's existence as a "viewer insert" in the anime
has left him as a "stock character" that the series uses to
facilitate the appearance of new Pokémon. And while Red doesn't have
deep characterization (his most iconic quote from him is literally a
long series of ellipses), the fact that he was allowed to have some
character could have influenced the production team's decision to bring him on.
to live action.
So far, Netflix has yet to officially
confirm any additional details about its live-action Pokémon series. However,
the choice of Red as the protagonist has generated great expectation and
curiosity among fans of the franchise, who are eagerly awaiting more
information about this long-awaited project.
Source: BoundingInto Comics
