A new adaptation of Scooby-Doo is in the works for Netflix, with Greg Berlanti, one of television’s most prolific producers, attached to the project.
Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! was the first piece of media to contain Scooby and his gang – Daphne, Fred, Shaggy and Velma. It was created by Joe Ruby and Ken Spears, first airing in 1969. It proved incredibly successful, spawning many spin-offs, like The New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show and A Pup Named Scooby-Doo.
In the early 2000s, the animated characters were brought to life in several live-action adaptations, beginning with Scooby-Doo in 2002. The movie, starring Matthew Lillard, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Freddie Prinze Jr., and Linda Cardellini, saw the gang head to Spooky Island, a horror-inspired theme park, where strange events start taking place.
A sequel was released in 2004, Scooby-Doo: Monsters Unleashed, with the gang fighting off a masked villain at the Coolsville Museum of Criminology. Both were commercially successful, although critics didn’t think too highly of the campy children’s movies. A third sequel was subsequently ditched, although another (albeit unsuccessful) live-action Scooby-Doo movie emerged in 2009 that featured a completely new cast.
Now, however, a live-action television series is potentially in the works, which would be released on Netflix. Berlanti would be executive producing while Josh Appelbaum and Scott Rosenberg would write the screenplay. For years, Berlanti has been behind some incredibly successful shows, working on You, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, and Riverdale. He has produced films like Red, White and Royal Blue, Free Guy and My Policeman while also directing Love, Simon.
Midnight Radio’s Jeff Pinkner and André Nemec would be executive producing, and the company’s Adrienne Erickson would take the role of co-executive producer. The production company has previously adapted the live-action Cowboy Bebop.
Little is known about the upcoming Scooby-Doo project, although it will likely be popular if the success of the majority of previous adaptations is anything to go by. The Mystery Inc. gang will surely be back fighting crimes and unmasking baddies, hopefully wearing similarly colourful outfits.
