Mystery Inc. has its new live-action lineup. Netflix has cast Mckenna Grace, Tanner Hagen, Abby Ryder Fortson, and Maxwell Jenkins as the core teen quartet in its untitled “Scooby-Doo” series, the streamer’s first live-action TV take on the long-running Hanna-Barbera franchise. Grace will play Daphne Blake, Hagen is Shaggy Rogers, Fortson is Velma Dinkley, and Jenkins rounds out the gang as Fred Jones.
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The show is being positioned as an origin story, rewinding the mythology back to the case that first pulled the group together. Set during the gang’s final summer at camp, the series follows old friends Shaggy and Daphne as they get drawn into a mystery surrounding a lonely, lost Great Dane puppy that may have witnessed a supernatural murder. They’re joined by Velma, described as a pragmatic and scientific townie, and Freddy, the handsome new kid, as the four teens stumble into a case that threatens to expose all of their secrets. The series was first announced last year as an eight-episode project.
Behind the camera, the series comes from showrunners, writers, and executive producers Josh Appelbaum and Scott Rosenberg, with Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter, and Leigh London Redman executive producing via Berlanti Productions. André Nemec, Jeff Pinkner, and Adrienne Erickson also executive produce through Midnight Radio, while Toby Haynes will direct the premiere episode and serve as an executive producer as well. The project is produced by Warner Bros. Television.
There’s an obvious franchise logic to all of this, but at least the setup has a clean hook. Rather than dropping viewers into an already-formed gang in a van, the series is going back to first principles, building its mystery around camp, adolescent secrets, and the earliest version of the Scooby crew before “Mystery Inc.” fully calcified into brand iconography. That angle could go either way, but it’s at least trying to find a story engine beyond mere IP cosplay.
The casting itself is strong on paper. Grace has become one of the busiest young actors in the business, with “The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping” and “Regretting You” on deck, while Hagen arrives off “The Pitt,” Fortson continues to build after “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.,” and Jenkins brings genre experience from “Lost in Space” and “The Bondsman.” Whether the show can balance genuine mystery, teenage chemistry, and the franchise’s tricky tonal mix is the bigger question, but Netflix has now locked in its meddling kids. Scooby, naturally, was already going to do the rest.
