Next 'Pokémon Go' Event Rumors: Unown, Halloween 2017, legendaries and other theories

Niantic still has time to announce plans for a St. Patrick's Day event in Pokémon Go, but it's looking like we'll have to wait a little longer for the next big update. After all, the Pokémon Day event — the one with Pikachu's extremely popular party hat — did finish up in early March. 

Of course, this hasn't stopped Pokémon Go players in the Silph Road fan community from speculating about what the next event for Pokémon Go is going to be. Specifically, they've set their sights on the mysterious Pokémon Unown as the basis for their theories. 

So let's dive in: Here's what Pokémon Go fanatics believe is coming up.

Next Pokémon Go event rumors: Is an Unown event in the works?

According to the Silph Road, Unown is one of the rarest Pokémon available in Pokémon Go. Not only is it rare, but it has 26 distinct forms you can catch, with a special medal allegedly available for catching all of them, which is quite a feat. Why is this Pokémon so rare?

To add to the mystery, according to GamesPress, it's also not very good. It has a max combat point stat of 1022 and below-average stats all around. This has prompted some Silph Road users to argue that Niantic is keeping them in reserve for a worldwide event.

The most probable explanation, according to user Necr0maNc3R, is that Niantic is keeping them in reserve for some kind of global event, perhaps one that includes Legendary Pokémon. This isn't out of the ordinary: In Pokémon lore, Unown tends to herald the approach of a Legendary Pokémon. In the third film, an Entei, flanked by Unowns, abducts Ash's mom and tries to make her be someone else's mom. It's... very weird. 

Next Pokémon Go event rumors: Another Halloween event?

Other posters on the Silph Road think it might simply be part of the next special spawning event, whenever that is. Both the Halloween event and the recent Valentine's Day event saw increases in the spawn rates of certain types of Pokémon. Those Pokémon tended to be rare ones like Chansey and Porygon (in the case of the Valentine's Day event) and helped people complete their Pokédexes.

Redditor Yeldarb10 used that prior evidence, Unown's incredibly low spawn rate and its perception as a "spooky Pokémon" to suppose that Niantic was keeping its spawn rate intentionally low in order to bump it for Halloween.

Other commenters suggested that it could be for Sept. 8, World Literacy Day, as a quasi-joke about how the 26 different Unowns are shaped like the 26 letters of the alphabet — not including the Unowns that look like question marks and exclamation points, which were released later on.

Overall, however, it's probably too far-out to predict that Unown will be the subject of the next Halloween event, if only because, as Redditor vwkitty observed, "By Halloween it's possible we'll have Gen 3."

Although there's no concrete evidence to support what an Unown event would look like or if there's even one coming up, it's fun to speculate about what Niantic has in store, since it's normally so tight-lipped. As such, you can't really blame the Silph Road for getting excited about what might be next for Pokémon Go.

More Pokémon Go guides, tips, tricks and updates

Check out Mic's guides on how to get stardust, how to determine how long it will take you to reach level 40, the kind of Pokémon you get from 10km eggs, how to create new PokéStops, how to maximize your chances of catching Pokémon and how PokéStops distribute Pokémon eggs. Also check out how to catch Gen 2 baby Pokémon, our analysis of post-balance update Chansey and Rhydon and everything you need to know about finding the long-awaited Pokémon Ditto.