Despite the complete 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 very 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 his alleged inside 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 more news about Netflix's attempt to “catch them all.”
This changed until today, when the well-known leaker Daniel 'DanielRPK' Richtman he 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.. Additionally, he revealed an exciting new fact: The protagonist of the series would be neither Ash Ketchum nor 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 franchise's first playable character, has established himself as one of the series' most iconic heroes, appearing as the secret final boss of the Generation II 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's interesting to note that Red served as a direct inspiration for Ash Ketchum in the “Pokémon” anime.
Netflix's decision to opt for 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 “spectator insert” in the anime has left him as a “stock character” that the series uses to facilitate the appearance of new Pokémon. And although Red does not have a deep characterization (his most iconic quote 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 to live action.
Until now, Netflix has not yet officially confirmed 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.
Fountain: Bounding Into Comics
