Disney+ and The Pokémon Company International have signed a global distribution deal that hands the streamer two very different pieces of Pokémon history at once: a brand-new stop-motion series from Aardman, and the original animated series that started the franchise on television.
The centerpiece is Pokémon Tales: The Misadventures of Sirfetch’d & Pichu, which debuts on Disney XD and streams exclusively on Disney+ in 2027. A teaser trailer premiered at Pokémon XP on August 28.
What Pokémon Tales Actually Is
Pokémon Tales is a stop-motion series from Aardman, the UK studio behind Wallace & Gromit and Chicken Run, directed by Tom Parkinson. It follows Sirfetch’d and Pichu on a journey through the Galar region, protecting other Pokémon along the way, with a tone built around comedy and missions that rarely go according to plan rather than straightforward adventure. Nat McKay serves as creative director for IP development and James Young leads model making.
The Classic Series Joins Too
Alongside the new show, Disney+ is also picking up Pokémon the Series: The Beginning, which follows Ash and Pikachu’s original run through the Pokémon world. That series is already airing on Disney XD and streaming on Disney+ in the U.S. and select international markets, having launched there earlier in August. Bundling it with Pokémon Tales gives the deal both a new production and an established one under a single agreement. The move also marks a shift away from Netflix, which has been the primary streaming home for Pokémon in recent years — hosting 52 episodes of the original series, the sequel show Pokémon Horizons, and even an earlier stop-motion spinoff, Pokémon Concierge, produced with Dwarf Studios. Aardman’s involvement here gives Disney its own version of that stop-motion format rather than sharing Dwarf’s.
Why Disney Wants This
Disney Kids & Family president Ayo Davis framed the deal around Pokémon’s ability to hold onto longtime fans while still bringing in new, younger viewers, calling the Aardman series a way to pair that appeal with a fresh visual style. Pokémon’s director of original animation, Phil Rynda, similarly credited Aardman’s filmmaking approach with bringing the Galar region to life in a way the franchise hasn’t tried before.
Disney hasn’t given Pokémon Tales an exact premiere date beyond “2027,” and the deal doesn’t fully solve access to Ash and Pikachu’s original run either: Disney+’s library for Pokémon the Series: The Beginning currently holds only 27 of the show’s 80 English-dubbed episodes, with no confirmation yet on whether the rest will be added. Fans chasing the complete original series may still need Netflix or Tubi in the meantime.
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