How long do you give it until Ash, Pikachu and Team Rocket returns?

[Nicolas721]

For specials & movies. possibly one year and a half. OLM producing the Distant sky special seems very odd to me on this day and age so I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't some kind of pilot of something else.

For the series as guest characters, it's hard to say, it would be an easy way to boost the ratings and there's a lot of things the duo could learn from Ash, but If they do it wrong or too early it may be felt that they burned the opportunity too soon. My random guess would be 3 years. What I'm sure is that while Ash can appear without TR, I can't see TR appearing without Ash.

As a protagonist, I think it will be a very loooong time before we see either a continuation or reboot with Ash. They know the risk they are taking and I think they wouldn't give up so early on this new strategy, and there are countless products in the franchise that don't feature Ash so they could just choose another character in case the new series is disliked. We could see a Kanto Arc reboot for nostalgia, but not as a complete replacement of the current anime.

 

[Dragonite94]

I don’t think he’ll ever return as a lead but he’ll definitely come back. Probably a little older with more experiences under his belt. Probably with a new travel buddy.

 

[Karakuri18]

I don’t think he’ll ever return as a lead but he’ll definitely come back. Probably a little older with more experiences under his belt.

Even if they bring Satoshi back (which I doubt), he won't be older for sure.
From what I remember, one of the creators of the anime said that Satoshi will always be 10 years old.

 

[nickdt]

Well judging how Goh was handled and that Liko and Roy are seen bound to Gen 9 starters. I would say it's 85% confirmed that they're only for Gen 9 series. Plus there's a factor that series might've been bad views-wise so either they A) revert to Ash(AU) or make new characters for Gen 10.

Imo, it depends on how many starters they get though.

Like, if Liko gets one and Roy gets two for example, they can use them for gen 10 as well... where they give Liko the 2 starters she doesn't have a type of yet (Fire and Water), while they give Roy the Grass one.

 

[-PokemonBattleFanatic-]

Maybe in a similar situation to GX 180 / BBT

 

[Moe]

I get the feeling we will find out soon how attached the series is to the old one - because it just doesn't make sense to set the series in Kanto and then go out of the way to avoid all the established characters from the Kanto games, which even if you don't count Ash as Red, includes Gym leaders and professors.

If they'd just set it in Galar fully, or even just made up anime only islands, they'd be able to decide later how connected they are, but Kanto to me kinda inevitably sets up needing to establish if this is an alternate universe or not.

If it is the same world, then Ash is probably inevitable, and if it isn't, he's impossible. It's a weird situation for the anime to be in.

 

[Emmy]

Maybe in a similar situation to GX 180 / BBT

For people who don't get the reference, at the end of the "Yugioh GX" anime, Jaden Yuuki was sent back in time to duel Yugi Muto - protagonist of the original series. Then during the 10th anniversary, they made a crossover movie called "Bonds Beyond Time" where Yusei Fudo goes back in time and teams up with previous protagonists Yugi and Jaden in order to stop the time traveling villain Paradox from changing history and wiping out Duel Monsters.

 

[Eitarou]

I get the feeling we will find out soon how attached the series is to the old one - because it just doesn't make sense to set the series in Kanto and then go out of the way to avoid all the established characters from the Kanto games, which even if you don't count Ash as Red, includes Gym leaders and professors.

If they'd just set it in Galar fully, or even just made up anime only islands, they'd be able to decide later how connected they are, but Kanto to me kinda inevitably sets up needing to establish if this is an alternate universe or not.

If it is the same world, then Ash is probably inevitable, and if it isn't, he's impossible. It's a weird situation for the anime to be in.

Except it isn't set in Kanto, nor any specific region. Kanto is just the starting point because nostalgia has its claws sunk deep into this franchise and refuses to let go.

 

[Hidden Mew]

Imo, it depends on how many starters they get though.

Like, if Liko gets one and Roy gets two for example, they can use them for gen 10 as well... where they give Liko the 2 starters she doesn't have a type of yet (Fire and Water), while they give Roy the Grass one.

It still seems pretty unlikely to me that they'd keep them for the next generation. It's too early to say for sure either way, but given how connected they are to Sprigatito and Fuecoco respectively, I can't really see them giving Liko and Roy generation 10 starters or keeping them around for another series. It reminds me a lot about the speculations that Journeys could last for multiple generations or that they could give Goh new starters to keep him around.

I get the feeling we will find out soon how attached the series is to the old one - because it just doesn't make sense to set the series in Kanto and then go out of the way to avoid all the established characters from the Kanto games, which even if you don't count Ash as Red, includes Gym leaders and professors.

If they'd just set it in Galar fully, or even just made up anime only islands, they'd be able to decide later how connected they are, but Kanto to me kinda inevitably sets up needing to establish if this is an alternate universe or not.

If it is the same world, then Ash is probably inevitable, and if it isn't, he's impossible. It's a weird situation for the anime to be in.

They aren't really set in Kanto. It's more of a starting point seemingly because the franchise is too set on Kanto nostalgia pandering after all these years. While we did see a lot of established characters from the games in Journeys, it took awhile for that to actually happen. Lt. Surge never properly appeared despite Ash and Goh's homebase being in Vermillion City and Misty didn't show up until the Aim to be a Pokemon Master specials despite them being close to her Gym. Since they might not be in Kanto for too long after both Liko and Roy meet up with each other, there isn't much of a point to showcase established characters from the Kanto games.

I doubt that this is a different world. Even if it is, I don't think that Ash showing up would necessarily be impossible, if only because they have had Ash go to different worlds for an episode or two before. I don't think that having a completely different continuity would be necessary either.

 

[RetroPokeFan]

I have a feeling that even putting Ash and Pikachu aside we won't be seeing many characters returning this time around and that the focus will mainly be on the new faces and any folks from Paldea that might show up in the future.

Sure we had Nurse Joy pop up in Episode 3 but we've always had Nurse Joys in the anime so it really wasn't much of a surprise to me.

 

[Emmy]

I will be curious to see when (if ever) we get the first concrete continuity callback to the original run, I feel like that would act as a good barometer as to how connected this series will be to the last and whether to expect any cameos whether it be Ash or someone else.

 

[Area54]

Imo, it depends on how many starters they get though.

Like, if Liko gets one and Roy gets two for example, they can use them for gen 10 as well... where they give Liko the 2 starters she doesn't have a type of yet (Fire and Water), while they give Roy the Grass one.

I doubt that. I am sure people will see new faces each gen. But again they can still pull Yokai Watch and make Ash return. ( maybe AU Ash and not main one).