Jonathan Krisel to direct 'Pokemon Detective Pikachu' sequel

Los Angeles, March 4

Filmmaker Jonathan Krisel has been roped into direct 'Pokemon Detective Pikachu' sequel.

Jonathan Krisel, co-creator of 'Portlandia', is in negotiations with Legendary Entertainment to direct the sequel to the live-action 'Pokemon' movie from 2019. Chris Galletta will write the script, reports Variety.

Krisel co-created, wrote and executive produced IFC's sketch comedy show 'Portlandia', which starred fellow co-creators Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein in a multitude of oddball situations around Portland, Oregon.

He also co-created, wrote and directed FX's 'Baskets', starring Zach Galifianakis as a rodeo clown. Previously, Galletta wrote the 2013 coming-of-age comedy 'The Kings of Summer'.

The original 'Pokemon Detective Pikachu' starred Ryan Reynolds as a talking, coffee-loving Pikachu who fancied himself as a Sherlock Holmes. The electric mouse teams up with Tim Goodman, a down-on-his-luck Pokemon trainer played by Justice Smith, to find Tim's missing dad. The cast included Kathryn Newton, who's currently starring in 'Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania', Suki Waterhouse, Ken Watanabe, Rita Ora and more.

It was the first live-action 'Pokemon' movie ever made, after the hit video game franchise has sold more than 440 million video games sold worldwide, tens of billions of Pokemon cards, and more than 1,200 episodes of the popular anime series.

It's been a big week so far for 'Pokemon'; on Monday, Netflix announced a new, stop-motion animated series, titled 'Pokemon Concierge', will release on the streamer.

There's also a live-action Netflix series in early development, which Variety exclusively reported in 2021.