In the news that many people have been expecting for a long time, all-conquering Netflix has swooped in to develop a live-action Pokémon series, with Lucifer‘s co-showrunner and executive producer Joe Henderson attached to oversee the project and have a heavy say in the writing process.
You’d think this might have been unanimously received by the fanbase, but that’s not quite the case. Netflix is the world’s biggest streaming service with over 200 million subscribers, a bottomless pit of cash and a huge investment in adapting video game properties for both live-action and animation, while the fans have been crying out for more Pokémon adventures since Detective Pikachu turned out to be a critical and commercial hit that didn’t get a sequel.
And yet, once the news broke that the beloved series was coming to streaming, the reactions have ranged from euphoria to complete ambivalence, and even a little bit of disappointment, as you can see below.
Obviously, we’ll have to give Netflix the benefit of the doubt until Pokémon comes together, when all we have to go on so far is the fact it’s happening and there’s precisely one creative talent attached. Between now and whenever the final product arrives, the streamer will have delivered a slew of other console favorites in episodic form, so we’ll have a much better idea of what the overall track record looks like.
For now, though, there’s probably enough reason to be cautiously optimistic that Netflix’s Pokémon will deliver, especially when fantasy has proven to be one of the genres the company have consistently excelled at, and you can bet the boardroom will be throwing a lot of money at this one.