Detective Pikachu Writer Reveals Why Film Connects to Pokemon: The First Movie

Pokemon: Detective Pikachu shows a whole new kind of Pokemon world, but it’s got its feet firmly planted in the existing canon of the video game and anime releases of the franchise. One of the biggest nods is in the central Legendary Pokemon Mewtwo, which has an origin story that ties it directly into Pokemon: The First Movie. While there was some debate over whether or not this was the exact same Mewtwo, the writers confirm it’s the same Mewtwo.

Speaking with ComicBook.com, Detective Pikachu writer Benji Samit explained that he and co-writer Dan Hernandez wrote the Mewtwo story with Pokemon: The First Movie (also known as Mewtwo Strikes Back) in mind. This direction connection was to help add another point of entry to such a different view of the Pokemon world.

Samit explained the process behind incorporating Mewtwo into the film and how the root of it was meant to help build a familiarity for fans of the original anime movie, “Mewtwo has always been a part of this because he’s in the game, and we knew he was gonna play a big role. In writing it, it became this thing of: we have to be clear that there’s only one Mewtwo.” Bringing in such an important Pokemon to the franchise seemed like the best way to draw the comparisons.

As Samit elaborated further, “When we’re doing this movie that’s set in such a different world of Pokemon, we didn’t want it to feel like a disconnected universe that is just an alternate history that uses the same creatures.” So all of these allusions that anime fans caught were completely there to add that sense of a fuller world.

That’s doubly true for Mewtwo “We wanted to be very clear that this movie is part of the greater Pokemon universe, and so if Mewtwo’s in it, he’s probably gonna be the same Mewtwo.” It’s interesting to confirm that this Mewtwo is the same as the one fans witnessed way back when, and soon fans will get another chance to see that Mewtwo again when it’s completely CG remake, Mewtwo Strikes Back EVOLUTION, hits Japan later this year.

These anime connections are part of the reason the film has been such a good hit, and you can find them for yourself as Pokemon: Detective Pikachu is now out in theaters. You can read our spoiler-free review of the film here. The official synopsis for Pokemon: Detective Pikachu reads as such, “The story begins when ace detective Harry Goodman goes mysteriously missing, prompting his 21-year-old son Tim to find out what happened. Aiding in the investigation is Harry’s former Pokémon partner, Detective Pikachu: a hilariously wise-cracking, adorable super-sleuth who is a puzzlement even to himself.

Finding that they are uniquely equipped to communicate with one another, Tim and Pikachu join forces on a thrilling adventure to unravel the tangled mystery. Chasing clues together through the neon-lit streets of Ryme City—a sprawling, modern metropolis where humans and Pokémon live side by side in a hyper-realistic live-action world—they encounter a diverse cast of Pokémon characters and uncover a shocking plot that could destroy this peaceful co-existence and threaten the whole Pokémon universe.”