Oscar nominated actor Ken Watanabe has joined the cast of Legendary Entertainment's upcoming live-action Pokemon movie,
Detective Pikachu.
He
joins Ryan Reynolds, who will voice the iconic character of Pikachu/Detective Pikachu, and
Justice Smith (
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom), who plays a boy in search of his missing, kidnapped father. Together, the teen boy and Detective Pikachu put their investigative skills to the test.
According to the
Hollywood Reporter, Watanabe (
Godzilla) will play Detective Yoshida, a character created specifically for the movie. It's unclear how prominent a role Detective Yoshida will play in searching for the father, especially given the
recent casting of Kathryn Newton (
Big Little Lies) as female lead Lucy, a "sassy journalist" who also aids in the search.
Watanabe has a history with Legendary, having appeared in the studio's recent
Godzilla movie and the upcoming sequel,
Godzilla: King of Monsters. He was also nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his work alongside Tom Cruise in
The Last Samurai.
Rob Letterman is directed
Detective Pikachu, with a script penned by Nicole Perlman and Alex Hirsch. It's the first live-action film based on the popular
Pokemon franchise, which was introduced in Japan in 1996 and has since become a worldwide phenomenon with
more than 300 million video games sold worldwide, 21.5 billion TCG cards shipped to 74 countries, and an animated series spanning 19 seasons.
Detective Pikachu is
set to hit theaters May 10, 2019.