I’m not saying that he won’t appear in some capacity in the future like returning for a episode or two, but he’s most likely not going to return as the mc in the same capacity as he was before where he sticks around as mc for another 20+ years.
See… I would disagree with that. I think that there is probably a good chance we will see Ash again as a main character down the line at some point.
Will it be the same version of Ash that is world monarch? That version, I agree, probably won’t come back to rule the Pokemon Anime on a weekly basis.
Now that they are giving him a break for awhile with a new anime, trying out new characters, I am sure they are going to see if this new model works. If it does, the most we will ever see him again will probably be saved for big events or movies - as, yes, he is an easy marketing-hype tool.
However, if it does not work, I would assume, knowing Japan, they will return to a formula they know that does. That said, having given this 25yo version of Ash a finale series, they most likely will reboot him in some fashion or maybe just use the AU Ash for a new future weekly series.
It would save a lot of people a lot of effort not to have to draw all those Pokemon at the lab again or try to grapple with continuity. We already know they struggle with both.
It really depends on how successful this new approach is. IF this new anime is successful Ash may be gone for a good long while. If not, I’d wager he and pikachu, in some form, will be back for Gen10.
It could go either way.