Pokemon says goodbye to Ash and Pikachu!

End Sacha and Pikachu’s adventures after 25 seasons: The Pokemon Company announced Friday that a “new series” will begin in 2023 with “never-before-seen” characters, including the duo of Lico and Roy.

• Also Read: Pandemic inspired Pokemon GO

• Also Read: In a frenzy, Target stops selling Pokemon cards in the United States

• Also Read: Video Games: Pokemon Turns 25!

“The new series will launch in multiple countries in 2023,” said the Pokemon Company, which is partly owned by Japanese video game giant Nintendo and handles brand rights ranging from the TV series to the trading card game.

“A new series will be released after the current season” in which Sacha Ketchum, the protagonist of the series with his faithful companion Pikachu, is crowned the best “trainer in the world” after 25 seasons of adventures, which she has completed.

The special episodes are “the final chapter in Ash and Pikachu’s adventures” and “give a glimpse of what’s to come” for the two iconic characters. The episodes will air in France on Wednesday mornings.

“Fans will be delighted to see the new series, which takes all the codes of the Pokemon cartoons dear to their hearts: action, adventure, friendship and Pokemon”, the Pokemon Company further indicated.

Pokemon, which appeared in Japan in 1996 as a video game for the Game Boy console, has become one of the most popular cultural franchises worldwide, along with “Star Wars” and “Harry Potter.”

Available in countless forms, collectible card game, objects, stuffed animals or movie adaptations, the successful monster-capturing saga “Pokémon Go” revolutionized mobile games, introducing geolocation and augmented reality mechanisms.

The new video games in the Pokemon franchise “Scarlet” and “Purple” on the Nintendo Switch system are hitting tens of millions in sales within days of their release in late November.