Pokemon Journeys’ Final Episodes Come to Netflix in March

Netflix has announced that the final 12 episodes of Pokemon Journeys: The Series will be released in March. The 12 episodes will include a return to the Alola region, the anime’s adaptation of the Pokemon Sword and Shield storyline along with a showdown with the legendary Pokemon Mewtwo. Pokemon Journeys: The Series follows protagonist Ash Ketchum and his new traveling companion Goh as the duo travel around the Pokemon world researching Pokemon, competing in the prestigious World Coronation Series competition, and attempting to capture everyknown Pokemon species. This is the fourth batch of new episodes released on Netflix, bringing the total number of episodes to 48.

However, today’s announcement was met with a bit of confusion and anguish, as Netflix and The Pokemon Company noted that these were the “final episodes” of Pokemon Journeys. It’s unlikely that Netflix is cancelling their deal with The Pokemon Company, as the platform became the primary home of new Pokemon episodes just over a year ago. However, we will likely see a “re-brand” of the Pokemon anime series, similar to how the final season of Pokemon the Series: Sun & Moon was called Pokemon the Series: Sun & Moon – Ultra Legends is separately listed from the other episodes of Pokemon the Series: Sun & Moon despite being a direct continuation of that series. Curiously, while The Pokemon Company’s official press release of the new episodes noted that these were the “final” episodes of Pokemon Journeys, there was no mention of that on any Pokemon social media posts.

We’ll note that earlier this year, The Pokemon Company added a URL for “legends.pokemon.com,” which many believed is tied to the anime series. This could mean that we’ll see the announcement of a “Pokemon Legends” anime series, which makes sense as Goh recently obtained the Legendary Pokemon Suicune in episodes that aired in Japan.

Obviously, the end of Pokemon Journeys is a big deal to Pokemon fans, even if it’s only a temporary measure. We’ll have to see if there’s any disruption in Netflix’s airing of new episodes, or if this is just leading to another re-brand of the TV series in the United States.