Ryan Reynolds To Star As Pikachu In Forthcoming Movie

Deadpool actor Ryan Reynolds has reportedly been signed to star in the upcoming Pokémon feature film based on the game franchise, alongside actors Justice Smith and Kathryn Newton.

The story of Detective Pikachu revolves around the mystery of Smith’s character’s father being kidnapped, seeing the character team up with Pikachu to track him down. Reynolds will lend his voice to the electric rat, in a performance that will apparently rely on a lot of motion capture. A Detective Pikachu game was released in Japan this past February. Who could possibly turn down the role of Detective Pikachu?

Ryan Reynolds is on the Pokémon case.

The game’s popularity has spawned a card-collecting craze, an animated TV show, an animated movie franchise, and most recently, the augmented reality game Pokemon Go. The character of Detective Pikachu is comical because he is a gruff spin on what is typically a cute character who can only squeak his own name. Newton will play a sassy journalist who helps them on their quest. The script comes from Nicole Perlman (Guardians of the Galaxy) and Alex Hirsch (Gravity Falls). The film is being distributed by Universal, but a North American release date has not yet been announced.

Before Reynolds shows up in Detective Pikachu’s fedora, he will first return in to cinemas in Deadpool 2, which opens June 1, 2018.

We know what you’re thinking though, Pickachu doesn’t speak?!