Pokémon Horizons' Final Episodes Land on Netflix September 18: A New Fan's Guide

For a franchise that ran on Ash Ketchum for 25 straight years, Pokémon Horizons was a genuine leap of faith. On September 18, 2026, the current season's final stretch, Rising Hope Part 4, lands on Netflix, closing out a storyline that has been building since Liko and Roy first left home. If you stopped watching Pokémon somewhere around Kalos and never came back, this is a good moment to check in.

Here's what the show actually is, and what to expect from the episodes dropping this week.

Wait, is this the anime without Ash?

Yes, and that alone makes Horizons worth knowing about. After a quarter century as the undisputed face of the anime, Ash Ketchum's story concluded, and Studio OLM used the opportunity to reset the format rather than simply hand the crown to a new trainer walking the exact same path. Pokémon Horizons follows new protagonists from the ground up, with a different structure, different pacing, and a mystery-driven plot running underneath the usual gym-battle rhythm.

It is a bigger swing than it sounds. Ash's journey was the franchise's identity for so long that replacing him at all was a risk, and Horizons leaned into that by making its new leads feel genuinely different rather than reskinned.

Who are Liko and Roy?

Liko is the emotional center of the series, a trainer who leaves home to enroll at Indigo Academy and begin building her own path in the Pokémon world. Roy is her counterpart, tied more directly to the season's central mystery: a mysterious substance called Laquium that keeps resurfacing with dangerous consequences. Their partnership drives the show's dual structure, part slice-of-life academy story, part slow-burn conspiracy thriller about who is actually behind Laquium and what they want with it.

That combination is what separates Horizons from earlier eras of the anime. Where classic Pokémon largely told standalone regional arcs, Horizons is building toward something with actual continuity and stakes, closer to a serialized mystery than a rotating cast of gym leaders.

What's happening in Rising Hope Part 4?

The batch of episodes landing September 18 pushes the Laquium storyline to a head. Liko, Roy, and the rest of the Rising Volt Tacklers move to directly confront Laquium and the shadowy organization known as the Explorers, following a full year of buildup since the group's initial encounter at Laqua. Expect this stretch to function as a real season finale rather than another mid-arc cliffhanger, tying off the mystery threads that have been simmering since Season 3 began.

If you have been watching along in Japan or through other release windows, this is simply the Netflix catch-up point. If you haven't been watching at all, the good news is that Netflix batches these releases in digestible chunks, making it realistic to start from Season 1 and catch up before diving into the new material.

What's different about the battles?

Modern Pokémon mechanics finally get real screen time here. Horizons incorporates both Terastallization and Mega Evolution into its battle choreography, giving the anime access to flashier, higher-stakes transformations than the games' anime adaptations have typically bothered with. For longtime fans who have watched the games evolve mechanically while the anime stuck to simpler exchanges, seeing these systems actually animated with weight is one of the show's clearer wins.

Is Pokémon Horizons worth starting now?

If you want a lower-commitment entry point into modern Pokémon without wading through decades of Ash-era continuity, yes. The academy setting gives new viewers a clean starting line, the Laquium mystery gives the show actual narrative momentum, and the September 18 episodes cap off a season's worth of buildup in a way that should feel satisfying even to someone jumping in fresh.

It will not replace the nostalgia of the original series for longtime fans, and it isn't trying to. What it offers instead is a version of Pokémon built for viewers who want a story with an actual shape, and that alone makes it worth a look.

Frequently Asked Questions

When does Pokémon Horizons Season 3 Part 4 release on Netflix?

September 18, 2026. It covers Rising Hope Part 4, closing out the season's Laquium storyline.

Does Pokémon Horizons feature Ash Ketchum?

No. The series moved on from Ash entirely, centering new protagonists Liko and Roy in a fresh setting built around Indigo Academy.

Team Liko or still holding out for Ash? Battle it out in the chat.