The Pokémon Tales: The Misadventures of Sirfetch’d & Pichu Trailer Just Dropped & It’s So Precious
In an era of AI slop, this is the kind of show we want.
If you grew up watching Pokémon: Indigo League and rooting for Ash Ketchum and Pikachu but haven’t checked in on the world of Pokémon since, you’ll be pleased to know it hasn’t gone anywhere. There are nine seasons of the anime now (many of which are available on Netflix), and just days ago, we got our first look at The Pokémon Company’s new stop motion series: Pokémon Tales: The Misadventures of Sirfetch’d & Pichu. Here’s everything we know about this adorable new show.
At the end of August, during the first-ever PokémonXP fan convention, the first teaser for the series was shown exclusively to fans before being posted online. In it, we meet Pichu (who is aggressively cute) and Sirfetch’d (who gives suave, noble knight vibes) as they crest a hill and look out over the Galar region. Viewers are thrown into a vision of all the hijinks that await them there, with glimpses at other Pokémon like a unit of bouncing Failinks, a herd of tumbling Wooloos, an Allcremie stuck in a tree, and an evil cackling Farfetch’d.
Along with a first look at the protagonists, the teaser revealed that the show will drop in 2027 on Disney+ (after first debuting on Disney XD). The stop motion animation was created by Aardman, the acclaimed studio behind Chicken Run, Wallace & Gromit, Shaun the Sheep, and more.
In a press release, The Pokémon Company describes the plot of the series as a sort of pocket monster buddy comedy. “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.”
“These stories, full of adventure and heroism, all told from the perspective of Pokémon is made even more exciting through the lens of the incredible filmmakers at Aardman,” said Phil Rynda, Pokémon’s director of original animation. “Audiences will be delighted getting to know the Sirfetch'd & Pichu, and wonderful cast of Pokémon, featured in this series. Aardman has brought Galar to life in a way that makes you feel like you can smell the air, touch the tree bark, and want to adventure alongside our series heroes.”
At Pokémon XP, which drew more than 50,000 Pokémon lovers from around the globe, I spoke with Manon Wright, supervising set dresser for Aardman, about this new series. Wright is one of many artists at Aardman responsible for creating the sets and puppets used to film the show, and she led a group through some of the process of making a Pichu figure from clay.
During our hour of molding a perfectly round, oversized head and trying to get those precise details on Pichu’s ears just right, Wright said making a puppet for the show generally takes two to three weeks. Not only do the artists have to smooth out every bump and perfect every edge, but they have to figure out certain tricks of the eye — for example, how to make a floating Pokémon appear to do exactly that onscreen. Each character also requires multiple eyes, mouths, and more to achieve the various expressions and body positions needed to tell their story. All of this, and the sets, are made by hand. Then there’s the actual process of filming stop motion, which requires adjusting the puppets ever so slightly in each frame to create the illusion that they’re moving.
While this is Pokémon’s first production with Aardman, it’s not their first foray into stop-motion; that came with Dwarf Studios’ Pokémon Concierge, a gentle series that follows new concierge Haru as she helps Pokémon and their trainers relax at a tropical resort. Together, they solve problems on the island, build friendships, generally look soft and squishy, a major change in feel from the battle-centric episodes of the anime series.
Pokémon Tales: The Misadventures of Sirfetch’d & Pichu feels like the next entry into this cozy, Pokémon-focused genre of Pokéshows. And in an era of AI slop when you can hardly watch a video on your phone and trust that it’s real, there’s something incredibly comforting about the idea of turning on a show and knowing everything you see was crafted by human hands and minds.
