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Ryan Reynolds will play Pikachu in a live-action Pokémon movie - yes, really

Sorry, what?!

Ryan Reynolds will play Pikachu in a live-action Pokémon movie - yes, really
07 December 2017

Ryan Reynolds is set to play Pikachu in a live-action Pokémon movie.

Ryan Reynolds is set to play Pikachu in a live-action Pokémon movie.

Ryan Reynolds is set to play Pikachu in a live-action Pokémon movie.

Ryan Reynolds is set to play Pikachu in a live-action Pokémon movie.

Sorry, it’s taking a while to process this, but the really is the news. Ryan Reynolds is set to play Pikachu in a live-action Pokémon movie, and I want to see it RIGHT NOW.

Let’s rewind a bit here - it was announced a few months back that Hollywood would be making a movie based on Detective Pikachu. Rewinding even further, Great Detective Pikachu is a Japanese game released in 2016 in which you play as a kid who walks around trying to solve mysteries, accompanied by a Pikachu weating a Sherlock Holmes style hat.

No, this isn’t making sense to anyone, don’t worry.

This is Ryan Reynolds, now

There isn’t a huge amount of info out about the movie yet, but it begins filming in London early next year, and as it’s live-action, Reynolds’ role will be motion-capture, like Andy Serkis’ Gollum in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Only it’s Ryan Reynolds. And it’s Pikachu.

However, it’s not just a motion-capture role, because Detective Pikachu can SPEAK. And we’re not just talking your standard “Pika Pikas”, he can speak real, actual English, presumably in a very suave American accent.

People already couldn’t handle it when Ash’s Pikachu spoke English in the most recent animated Pokémon movie, so god knows how this is going to go down.

Blake Lively is now maried to Pikachu

Reynolds will star alongside Justice Smith, who is appearing in the new Jurassic World movie. He got his big break on Netflix’s Baz Luhrman creation The Get Down.

This film is one I imagine was on absolutely no one’s radar until literally this morning, now everyone’s going to want to see it - but I guess that’s why they cast Reynolds in the first place.

It’s being directed by Rob Letterman, of Goosebumps fame, and has been written by Nicole Perlman and Alex Hirsch.

My main hope - I get to see Ryan Reynolds running around the streets of London pretending to be Pikachu. If I saw that, I think I could honestly die happy.

(Images: Rex)