New season of Pokémon will continue without Ash Ketchum and Pikachu from now on

After a quarter of a century, Ash Ketchum has finally succeeded: he has become the very best and that means that the eternal 10-year-old is finally retired. The next Pokémon season will no longer feature the well-known protagonist for the first time. Pikachu also leaves the anime.

The producer of the long-running, popular anime write that the series will continue with two new main characters from next season. They are Liko and Roy, a girl and a boy who will travel through a new world. Not much information is known about the new season, except that it will feature the Pokémon Sprigatito, Fuecoco, and Quaxly from the Scarlet and Violet games. The legendary Pokémon Rayquaza also appears in the story.

An eleven-episode epilogue series will follow in January. It’s called Pokémon: Journeys in the West. Ash and Pikachu still play in it, but the other two will take over in the following season.

With that season, 25 years of the well-known protagonist and his loyal yellow follower come to an end. Since 1997, Ash Ketchum has been the main character who, together with his first Pokémon Pikachu, traveled the world to catch and train new Pokémon. His end goal was always to become the best trainer in the world. That goal was regularly just within reach, but then slipped away at the very last moment because there turned out to be a stronger trainer. Last month, however, Ash achieved his pinnacle achievement by winning the Pokémon World Championship. Mission accomplished, so it’s time for a story with new trainers.

The new season will start in April of next year. Sarah Natochenny, who has voiced Ash Ketchum for the past 17 years, says on Twitter that it was a privilege to do that vote. What Ash and Pikachu’s retirement means for Team Rocket’s evil plans is not yet known.