Detective Pikachu Writer on Why the Film Had to Narrow Its Pokemon

Pokemon: Detective Pikachu brought a veritable stable of pocket monsters to the real world with the first Hollywood interpretation of Pikachu and company. Unfortunately, not every Pokemon made the cut in terms of making an appearance in the film. While a lot of fan favorites managed to grace the silver screen, co-writers Benji Samit and Dan Hernandez were kind enough to sit down with us and explain why not all the Pokemon were able to make their first appearances in live action.

On our newest podcast, “A Wild Podcast Has Appeared”, we talked with Benji and Dan about why the feature film wasn’t able to feature all 807 Pokemon currently in existence and we received a very practical answer:

Benji: “We wish you could have 800 of them, but for practical reasons we could not. And so, really making those decisions was tough.”

Dan: “But also fun because we got to pick some of our favorites and put them in.”

Obviously, there’s only so much screen time that can be devoted to all the Pokemon and so it’s no surprise that only a handful were able to be featured here. With seven “generations” of pocket monsters out there, trying to push all 807 into a 104 minute long film would be nigh impossible. We doubt even the Russo Brothers would be able to accomplish such a feat.

(Photo: Warner Brothers Pictures)

Some of the Pokemon that were able to be featured came in the forms of Pikachu as a detective, the fan favorite Mewtwo as one of the main Pokemon significant to the overall plot, Psyduck, Squirtle, Greninja, and Charizard to name a few. With a sequel already reportedly in the works from Legendary Pictures, there’s no doubt that even more new Pokemon will be able to be featured in future Pokemon Hollywood productions. Whether or not they’ll be appearing in Ryme City alongside Tim Goodman and company is yet to be seen.

Which Pokemon that were missing from the film would you like to see appear in a future installment and were disappointed to not see in Detective Pikachu? What is your favorite Pokemon that did manage to make an appearance? Let us know in the comments or feel free to hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics and anime.

Pokemon: Detective Pikachu is currently in theaters. The official synopsis for the film 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.