Disney Announces Major Deal With Pokémon

Big Pokémon news: The massively popular multimedia franchise is coming to Disney+.

Disney announced today that they’ve struck a “global distribution deal” to bring multiple Pokémon series to Disney+. The agreement includes the upcoming Pokémon Tales: The Misadventures of Sirfetch’d & Pichu, a stop-motion television show from the geniuses at Aardman, the creators of Wallace and Gromit, Chicken Run, and Shaun the Sheep.

While Pokémon Tales: The Misadventures of Sirfetch’d & Pichu doesn’t debut until next year, the announcement of the deal between Disney and Pokémon included a new teaser for the series:

READ MORE: The Most Obvious Movie Retcons Ever

Here is Pokémon Tales’ official synopsis:

In “Pokémon Tales: The Misadventures of Sirfetch’d & Pichu,” Sirfetch’d and Pichu embark on an epic journey through the Galar Region. Together, they set out on a gallant quest to help and protect Pokémon across the region. Their missions rarely go as planned, but their noble deeds forge their friendship as they step bravely into the unknown where peril, alliances, rivalries, extraordinary Pokémon, and endless laughs await them.

In addition to this new series, Disney also acquiured the rights to stream the original Pokémon cartoon, now referred to as Pokémon the Series: The Beginning, with Ash and Pikachu teaming up for the very first time. The show first aired in the late 1990s.

Although that show is (gasp) nearly 30 years old, Pokémon has proven shockingly durable as a franchise. It continues to produce new video games for consoles and cell phones; it continues to spin off new animated series like this upcoming stop-motion show by Aardman. And the old Pokémon cards and merchandise remain enormously sought-after by collectors, with some cards and packs fetching absurd prices at auction.

With the franchise now partnering with Disney, observers will inevitably wonder: Is this a one-off partnership, or could this lead to other things? Licensing television shows for streaming is one thing. If the show does extermely well on Disney+, though, does that lead the two companies to consider further ideas? What about Disney Pokémon movies? What about Disney Pokémon theme park attractions? This could be a very small deal. Or it could wind up becoming huge.