Director Jonathan in talks to helm 'Pokemon Detective Pikachu'

WASHINGTON: The sequel of 'Pokemon Detective Pikachu' might finally have a director as 'Portlandia' fame co-creator Jonathan Krisel is in negotiations with Legendary Entertainment.

According to Variety, an American media company, Krisel is in talks to direct the sequel to the live-action 'Pokemon' movie from 2019. The script will be from Chris Galletta.

Ryan Reynolds starred in the original 'Pokemon Detective Pikachu' as a talking, coffee-loving Pikachu who fancied himself as Sherlock Holmes. To find Tim's missing father, the electric mouse teams up with Tim Goodman, a down-on-his-luck Pokemon trainer played by Justice Smith.

Kathryn Newton, who starred in 'Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania', Suki Waterhouse, Ken Watanabe, Rita Ora, and others were among the cast members.

As per the outlet, it was the first live-action 'Pokemon' film made, following the success of the hit video game franchise, which has sold over 440 million video games worldwide, tens of billions of Pokemon cards, and over 1,200 episodes of the popular anime series.

Netflix has announced the release of a new stop-motion animated series titled 'Pokemon Concierge' on the streaming service. A live-action Netflix series is also in the works, as Variety reported in 2021.

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 variety of outlandish situations in and 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', as per Variety.