Disney+'s New 'Pokémon' Series Gets First Official Trailer

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The Misadventures of Sirfetch'd and Pichu'

Published Aug 28, 2026, 8:17 PM EDT

Hannah has been writing about horror, sci-fi, and all things nerdy since 2021. At Collider, she covers news and conducts interviews, along with contributing features that dive deep into genre storytelling and why it works. If there’s something lurking in the shadows, she’s probably already writing about it if she's not too busy watching a tape from her VHS collection.

Pokémon is heading back to the Galar region, but it is going to look very different this time around. During Pokémon XP in San Francisco, The Pokémon Company International and Aardman Animation debuted the first teaser trailer for Pokémon Tales: The Misadventures of Sirfetch’d & Pichu, offering our best look yet at the stop-motion series coming in 2027. The new footage follows Sirfetch’d, an aspiring knight, and his considerably smaller squire Pichu as they adventure across Aardman’s handcrafted version of Galar. The teaser also confirms that plenty of familiar Pokémon will cross their path, including Obstagoon, while locations like the Crown Tundra from Pokémon Sword and Shield have been recreated for the series.

The Pokémon Company International also announced during Pokémon XP that Disney+ will be the exclusive worldwide streaming home of Pokémon Tales: The Misadventures of Sirfetch’d & Pichu when the series premieres in 2027. The deal gives Disney another major piece of Pokémon animation alongside Pokémon the Series: The Beginning, which brings Ash and Pikachu's original adventures to Disney+ and Disney XD.

‘Pokémon Tales: The Misadventures of Sirfetch’d & Pichu’ Is Coming to Disney+

Aardman director Tom Parkinson described Sirfetch’d and Pichu as an “odd-couple” pairing, with Sirfetch’d determined to become the greatest knight in Galar while Pichu serves as his playful squire and, frequently, the voice of reason. That relationship is at the center of the series, with the pair encountering Pokémon in need and getting themselves into plenty of trouble along the way. Phil Rynda, The Pokémon Company International's director of original animation, explained during a roundtable attended by Collider's Hannah Hunt that the decision to set the series in Galar actually began on the Pokémon side of the collaboration.

Rynda was joined by Aardman's Parkinson, Nat McKay, and James Young, who revealed that the studio subsequently spent dozens of hours playing Pokémon Sword and Shield while developing its own interpretation of the region. Sirfetch’d and Pichu emerged early on as a particularly interesting duo to build a series around, with Galar offering plenty of room for the kind of adventure stories Aardman wanted to tell. Most importantly, this is not some Aardman-inspired alternate version of the Pokémon universe. The team stressed that the series really does take place in Galar, only audiences will experience it from the perspective of Pokémon rather than Trainers. That even changes the literal perspective of the show, with the camera sitting closer to the ground as Sirfetch’d and Pichu make their way through a world that suddenly looks enormous.

That new perspective also gave Aardman opportunities to explore sides of Pokémon that the games and anime do not always have time for. During the roundtable, the team explained that conversations could become surprisingly specific, right down to figuring out how these creatures settle down for the night and how they react to one another when they are not battling. Giving them a broader range of emotions and distinct personalities became a major part of developing the series. Don't mistake that for a completely battle-free Pokémon series, though. The team described The Misadventures of Sirfetch’d & Pichu as a comedy adventure with action, confirming that Pokémon will use familiar moves and abilities throughout the season. Aardman may be best known for character comedy, but bringing Pokémon battles into stop-motion gave the studio another opportunity to figure out what its own version of one of the franchise's most recognizable traditions should look like.

Pokémon Tales: The Misadventures of Sirfetch’d & Pichu will stream exclusively worldwide on Disney+ in 2027.

Release Date 1997 - 2023-00-00

Network TV Tokyo, TV Osaka, TV Aichi, TVh, TVQ, TSC

Directors Shigeru Omachi, Koji Ogawa, Fumihiro Ueno, Hideki Hiroshima, Maki Kodaira, Makoto Ooga, Ayumi Moriyama, Keitaro Motonaga, Shigeru Ueda, Fumihiro Yoshimura, Minoru Ohara, Yoshitaka Makino, Kiyoshi Egami, Makoto Sokuza, Bjarne Heuser, Naoki Murata, Kenichi Nishida, Tomoe Makino, Masahiko Watanabe, Hiroaki Takagi, Tazumi Mukaiyama, Ryohei Horiuchi, Yoshihiro Oda, Hiromichi Matano

Writers Junki Takegami, Atsuhiro Tomioka, Hideki Sonoda, Yukiyoshi Ôhashi, Yuka Miyata, Takeshi Shudo, Shouji Yonemura, Shinzo Fujita, Michihiro Tsuchiya, Deko Akao, Reiko Yoshida, Aya Matsui, Junichi Fujisaku

Franchise(s) Pokemon