Here’s some news to make you go “rooby rooby roo!”, “zoinks!” or maybe “jinkies!”: Netflix is reportedly working on a new live-action show featuring Scooby-Doo and all your other favorite Mystery Machine passengers (a phrase that excludes Scrappy-Doo). The show is currently in the “could be coming” category: Variety says it’s currently nearing a deal between Netflix and Berlanti productions with a script-to-series commitment, but the contracts haven’t yet been signed.
The show’s writers will be Josh Appelbaum (Cowboy Bebop, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows) and Scott Rosenberg (Kangaroo Jack, Venom, Jumanji: The Next Level), and the executive producers include Greg Berlanti (A producer and creator on tons of shows, including You and Titans, plus director of Love, Simon.
Provided things don’t get ruined by some pesky kids, the show will be based on the beloved Hanna-Barbera cartoon and produced by Warner Bros. Television, who recently launched the Neil Gaiman drama Dead Boys Detectives on the same streamer… which as also produced by Greg Berlanti.
What’s the story in the new Scooby-Doo show?
As my fellow Scots like to say, “we haven’t got a scooby”. Plot details are currently being kept under wraps, although it’s probably a fair bet that the one-hour drama will involve some kind of spooky occurrence, a supernatural being chasing the cast around the place, and a big reveal where it turns out that the monster was actually one of the human characters after all. Scooby-Doo didn’t become one of the world’s best-known and best-loved cartoons by messing with its winning formula.
Live-action Scooby shows have been pretty successful, especially in movie form: as Variety notes, the 2002 Scooby-Doo movie with Freddie Prinze Jr, Matthew Lillard, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Linda Cardellini (pictured at the top of the article) made over $250 million, with Scooby-Doo: Monsters Unleashed bringing in over $180 million two years later. There have also been two live action TV movies: Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins in 2009, and a sequel in 2010.
Not all Scooby shows have made it to the screen, however. Max scrapped its Scoob! Holiday Haunt as part of its cost-cutting regime, although Mindy Kaling currently voices the animated spin-off Velma for the same streamer. That’s been getting terrible reviews, partly because of co-ordinated review bombing, but also partly because the show’s attempts to reach a more adult viewership were felt by many critics to have fallen somewhat short. Despite the reviews, Velma currently holds the title of Max’s most-watched animated show and it’s currently in its second season.
