Netflix live-action Scooby-Doo series in the works

[Action!]

Netflix is picking up a dramatic live-action Scooby-Doo series, from Berlanti Productions and WBTV. The show had multiple bidders, with Netflix coming out on top with a premium script-to-series commitment.


This is interesting.

Mod Note: Post updated. In the future please actually add the info to the post itself, and to not rely just on the tweet/etc., to do the work, as that tweet, etc. could be removed in the future.

 

[Frontier]

Berlanti Productions...so are they going to try to Riverdale it or CW it...?

I at least hope they avoid the pitfalls of Velma.

 

[PF9]

Would have been nice to have on The CW while Riverdale was still running, with a crossover between the shows.

 

[Dr.Pepper]

I hope they don’t take a page out of the Velma playbook.

 

[LinusFan303]

Berlanti Productions...so are they going to try to Riverdale it or CW it...?

I at least hope they avoid the pitfalls of Velma.

If anything, I wouldn't mind them doing a murder investigation show with Scooby Doo, might as well. I'd want the true spirit to still be around though, so hopefully they are Scooby fans, maybe not do the tired jokes about the show that even a couple series did.

 

[Frontier]

If anything, I wouldn't mind them doing a murder investigation show with Scooby Doo, might as well. I'd want the true spirit to still be around though, so hopefully they are Scooby fans, maybe not do the tired jokes about the show that even a couple series did.

As long as they're still unmasking ghosts and monsters .

 

[RainbowCupcake]

So...Velma but live action?

I can't imagine this is going to be good.

 

[RoyalRubble]

All I can say is, this sounds more promising than the live-action Powerpuff Girls pitch. Granted we don't know what approach they'll take but Scooby has worked pretty well in live-action before.

 

[JMTV]

Well,..it couldn’t be any worse than Velma?

I don’t know, a dark and gritty Scooby Doo live action series is not something I would be interested in seeing anyway, especially me being burned by the James Gunn movies.

To be fair, Scooby Doo is a flexible franchise that has so many iterations throughout decades, whatever it’ll be dark or lighthearted (or sometimes both). Plus, Scooby Doo had some dark adaptations before, so this is not too surprising to me.

As long as the new series was given to the right hands and not easily screwed it up, then I would be okay with it. Otherwise, I’m just going to stick with the original series.

All I can say is, this sounds more promising than the live-action Powerpuff Girls pitch.

Please, don’t remind me about that garbage…

 

[Pooky]

I think the gun may be being jumped a bit on the assumption that this will be some kind of "dark, adult" take. That would be my guess as well based on a number of factors, including the people working on it, but unless I've missed something they haven't said as much yet.

 

[Daikun]

Scooby-Doo has worked in live-action before, so it's not a stretch to give the franchise a full live-action series.

I think the gun may be being jumped a bit on the assumption that this will be some kind of "dark, adult" take.

It's likely the use of the word "dramatic" in the description. If that's their plan, I'd prefer it if they didn't take that approach. I'd rather they ham it up.

 

[Goldstar!]

This won't be the Scooby Doo franchise's first foray into live action, or even its second. This new series being described as "dramatic" could be seen as a red flag. If the producers are going to try to take the show's silly premise seriously, that's not a good sign. I hope that the show's producers aren't going to try for another Riverdale type of approach. We sure don't need any more of those.

The one image shown on that tweet is of the animated Mystery Inc., with Scooby, so I'm guessing that this won't be like Velma and Scooby will be allowed to be featured this time, most likely as a CGI special effect. I'm thinking that this Netflix show will be like that cheap live action Scooby Doo TV movie that Doug Walker talked about in an episode of Nostalgia Critic and that there will be long stretches of time where Scooby isn't on screen so that the special effects team doesn't need to animate him.

 

[Frontier]

The one image shown on that tweet is of the animated Mystery Inc., with Scooby, so I'm guessing that this won't be like Velma and Scooby will be allowed to be featured this time, most likely as a CGI special effect. I'm thinking that this Netflix show will be like that cheap live action Scooby Doo TV movie that Doug Walker talked about in an episode of Nostalgia Critic and that there will long stretches of time where Scooby isn't on screen so that the special effects team doesn't need to animate him.

As long as he still talks and sounds like Scooby, I'll be good .

I mean, they also have a baked in excuse to not show Scooby when the gang splits up to search for clues .

 

[Goldstar!]

If this is going to be another YA reboot done in the style of Riverdale or Wednesday, I'll pass. Scooby Doo has always been at it's core, a comedy. The goofiness and campiness is part of the franchise,'s appeal.

Also, why is this coming to Netflix and not Max? Is it because Wednesday and Riverdale are also streaming there?

 

[Frontier]

If this is going to be another YA reboot done in the style of Riverdale or Wednesday, I'll pass. Scooby Doo has always been at it's core, a comedy. The goofiness and campiness is part of the franchise,'s appeal.

Also, why is this coming to Netflix and not Max? Is it because Wednesday and Riverdale are also streaming there?

Zaslav selling as much IP's as he can.

 

[Asa]

I wonder what Scooby’s design will look like?

I also wonder if Frank Welker will return to voice the dog? Or will he be recasted like with the live-action films?

 

[LinusFan303]

If this is going to be another YA reboot done in the style of Riverdale or Wednesday, I'll pass. Scooby Doo has always been at it's core, a comedy. The goofiness and campiness is part of the franchise,'s appeal.

Also, why is this coming to Netflix and not Max? Is it because Wednesday and Riverdale are also streaming there?

Companies figured out that having stuff on their own streaming services isn't as money making as going back to the old ways of someone else paying you, works better.

This won't be the Scooby Doo franchise's first foray into live action, or even its second. This new series being described as "dramatic" could be seen as a red flag. If the producers are going to try to take the show's silly premise seriously, that's not a good sign. I hope that the show's producers aren't going to try for another Riverdale type of approach. We sure don't need any more of those.

The one image shown on that tweet is of the animated Mystery Inc., with Scooby, so I'm guessing that this won't be like Velma and Scooby will be allowed to be featured this time, most likely as a CGI special effect. I'm thinking that this Netflix show will be like that cheap live action Scooby Doo TV movie that Doug Walker talked about in an episode of Nostalgia Critic and that there will be long stretches of time where Scooby isn't on screen so that the special effects team doesn't need to animate him.

I think they could do dramatic in the sense they do more serious crimes or something but still with some comedic moments and levity. That'd not be a bad thing to do. Or in other words, a more serious thing going on, but the characters aren't overly dramatic and not romance drama and etc. I'm not against them even doing a murder mystery, but again a balance is what's needed. I'd more worried if they do the bad things of like Scrappy =bad or taking alot of the things people fun of about Scooby doo and using it for their wink wink nudge nudge stuff, that's actually more tiring to me.

 

[Goldstar!]

Making Scrappy Doo the villain is low hanging fruit at this point. That corpse has been picked clean. If WB wants to include Scrappy, they should find another angle for the character besides "make Scrappy the bad guy because the fans already hate him".

 

[JMTV]

Companies figured out that having stuff on their own streaming services isn't as money making as going back to the old ways of someone else paying you, works better.

Not to get too off topic, but I can see a lot of companies are doing as well. I know it's not going to happen, but I can imagine a majority of CN back catalog will be moved over to Hulu in the future.

I think they could do dramatic in the sense they do more serious crimes or something but still with some comedic moments and levity. That'd not be a bad thing to do. Or in other words, a more serious thing going on, but the characters aren't overly dramatic and not romance drama and etc. I'm not against them even doing a murder mystery, but again a balance is what's needed. I'd more worried if they do the bad things of like Scrappy =bad or taking alot of the things people fun of about Scooby doo and using it for their wink wink nudge nudge stuff, that's actually more tiring to me.

That's been my main pet peeve when it come to post 2001 Hanna Barbara projects by WB for the past decade or so. Not to be nostalgia biased, but unless your name is Jellystone and Mystery Incorporated, 95% of the time, WB don't really get the HB characters right, because they were handled by people who don't know what they were doing and trying to make things overly complicated than it already is.

We've seen this time and time and time and time again. And with recently with Velma, it adds to the problem, not solves it.

I'm not sure if the Netflix Scooby Doo series can actually fix the problem or not, but we'll just have to see. I hope I can be proven wrong.

 

[LinusFan303]

Making Scrappy Doo the villain is low hanging fruit at this point. That corpse has been picked clean. If WB wants to include Scrappy, they should find another angle for the character besides "make Scrappy the bad guy because the fans already hate him".

Yeah! Like the writers have the power to do something with him, they could do something positive. He does have fans too.