A Live-Action Scooby-Doo TV Show Is Happening At Netflix, And My Excitement Is Curbed By One Detail That Already Doesn't Sit Right

With all the various IPs in the world, it’s somewhat surprising that Hollywood can’t go more than a few years without attempting to bring Scooby-Doo and his sleuthing compadres back to audiences in one form or another. The most recent large-scale projects have been 2020’s animated feature Scoob! And Mindy Kaling’s adult-skewing animated comedy Velma, which was canceled after two seasons on Max, and didn’t actually feature the talking Great Dane. Now it’s rapparently Retflix’s rurn.Errr, it’s Netflix’s turn.

The streaming giant has surprisingly confirmed an eight-episode series order for a live-action ghost-hunting, mystery-solving adventure centering on Scooby-Doo, Shaggy, Fred, Daphne and Velma, though it sounds like it’ll take place before Mystery Inc. fully forms. Let’s take a look at some of the early details revealed by Deadline so far before I allow my excitement to ferment into worry.

• The untitled Scooby-Doo series will be an origin story for how Mystery Inc.'s members first became friends and partnered up on solving a spooky case.
• The early synopsis: "During their final summer at camp, old friends Shaggy and Daphne get embroiled in a haunting mystery surrounding a lonely lost Great Dane puppy that may have been a witness to a supernatural murder. Together with the pragmatic and scientific townie, Velma, and the strange, but ever so handsome new kid, Freddy, they set out to solve the case that is pulling each of them into a creepy nightmare that threatens to expose all of their secrets."
• The live-action series is being developed and written by Josh Appelbaum and Scott Rosenberg, who have worked on such live-action adaptations as Neflix's Cowboy Bebop, the two TMNT films, and more, with G.I. Joe: Ever Vigilant as one of their other future projects.

As a lifelong fans of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? and its myriad follow-ups, I am inherently pumped about this new project, and I think there's a lot of ways that a live-action Mystery Inc. show could work amazingly well. But there's just one issue...

No Future Shaggy Actor Will Ever Top Matthew Lillard, Live-Action Or Otherwise

Though one's mileage will no doubt vary when it comes to how successful the live-action Scooby-Doo and its Monsters Unleashed sequel were, it's impossible to deny how excellent Matthew Lillard is at personifying the semi-stoner goofball Shaggy in both James Gunn films. I definitely adore Linda Cardellini's Velma as well, and feel that Freddie Prinze Jr. and Sarah Michelle Gellar were solid as Fred and Daphne.

But it doesn't get better than Lillard, and he went on to continue excelling in that role over the following DECADES in a slew of animated TV shows, video games, straight-to-DVD movies and beyond. He even popped up as Shaggy in Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Mad, Lego Dimensions, Robot Chicken, Jellystone and more. In a post-Casey Kasem world, Matthew Lillard IS Shaggy.

And unless this show somehow works some Wet Hot American Summer: First Day Of Camp magic where Lillard and other actors play younger roles without even trying to explain it away with logic, this new Netflix series means that someone else is going to step into the role, and with all the odds immediately stacked against them.

That said, here's hoping Netflix hires Matthew Lillard as some kind of consultant for the new show so that he can at least school the new Shaggy actor in how to do it right.

The news about a new live-action Scooby-Doo show is all the more surprising after everything that’s gone on in recent years at Warner Bros. and Max in relation to animated franchises and projects. For one, the semi-sequel Scoob! Holiday Haunt was canceled outright alongside Batgirl after nearly the entire movie had been completed, solely so its studio could write off the costs. More recently, WB woes have been tied to the Looney Tunes franchise, which has been all but eradicated from Max nearly two years after the live-action hybrid feature Coyote Vs. Acme was scrapped.

Here's hoping for the best when it comes to casting for this show, and that there are plenty of Scooby Snacks for those of us who are nervous about hearing any of it. In the meantime, there are plenty of mysterious and spooky shows on the 2025 TV schedule to keep everyone busy.