"Scooby-Doo" Live-Action Show Gets Series Order at Netflix

The “Scooby-Doo” live-action series is officially moving forward at Netflix, with the giant streamer picking up the show for eight episodes.

First reported to be in development at Netflix in April 2024 with a script-to-series commitment, the show will delve into how Mystery Inc. and their beloved Great Dane first teamed up together.

Josh Appelbaum and Scott Rosenberg serve as writers and showrunners and will also executive produce along with André Nemec and Jeff Pinkner under their Midnight Radio banner.

Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter, and Leigh London Redman will executive produce via Berlanti productions. Warner Bros. Television will produce.

Berlanti Productions is currently under an overall deal at WBTV, with the studio controlling the rights to the Hanna-Barbera characters.

The official logline for the show describes it as a modern reimagining of the popular cartoon show. “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,” the logline reads. “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.”

This will not be the first live-action Scooby-Doo project to make it to the screen. Most famously, “Scooby-Doo” was released in 2002 and starred Freddie Prinze Jr., Sarah Michelle Gellar, Matthew Lillard, and Linda Cardellini, with Neil Fanning voicing Scooby.

The film was a box office success, generating over $250 million worldwide.

A sequel with the same cast, “Scooby-Doo: Monsters Unleashed,” came out in 2004 and grossed over $180 million.

There was also the live-action TV film “Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins” and its sequel that were released in 2009 and 2010.

There have also been a wide range of Scooby-Doo animated projects over the years, beginning with the original cartoon series in the late 1960s. Various incarnations have followed over the years, spanning multiple animated series and films. Most recently, the animated film ““Scoob! Holiday Haunt” was meant to be released on Max but was scrapped in a cost-cutting move.

Max previously aired the animated series “Velma,” with Mindy Kaling voicing the bespectacled member of the Mystery Inc. gang, but the show was canceled after two seasons.

Netflix has made a push into adapting animated shows into live-action projects over the last several years.

The giant streamer currently airs live-action versions of “One Piece” and “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” both of which are going into their second seasons. Netflix has also adapted shows like “Cowboy Bebop,” “Death Note,” and “Fullmetal Alchemist” into live-action.