Detective Pikachu Film Sequel Reportedly In “Active Development”

In 2019, The Pokemon Company and Legendary Pictures released the Detective Pikachu live-action movie, which went on to become one of the most beloved and successful videogame adaptation films of all time.

Despite initial reports that a sequel had been greenlit, there has been little news about such a project since then. The original film’s star Justice Smith even said in a 2021 interview that he didn’t think the sequel was likely to happen.

Recently however, Polygon managed to get an update from Legendary Entertainment about the status of the film. According to the representative, the sequel to Detective Pikachu is “still in active development” although they could not confirm who was working on the project. As for The Pokemon Company, they declined to comment on the development of that film or any other related works.

Polygon also quoted a few comments from the original film’s writers Benji Samit and Dan Hernandez about the sequel from a discussion about their animated series Koala Man. According to the duo, the Detective Pikachu sequel is “complicated” due to “a lot of big studio, corporate Pokémon rights things”, and it seems they are likely not involved in the project. Oren Uziel, the writer initially rumored to be involved in the sequel, is also “no longer working” on the film according to his representatives, despite apparently writing and outline and screenplay.

All in all, it seems the status of the Detective Pikachu film sequel is still as up in the air as the game’s sequel. We will be sure to report back with more details as they come.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments.