Netflix has handed a script-to-series commitment to a live-action series based on the cartoon classic ‘Scooby-Doo’, from Greg Berlanti’s Berlanti Productions and WBTV it has been revealed.
Created in 1969 by writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears, the iconic cartoon follows teens Fred Jones, Daphne Blake, Velma Dinkley, Shaggy Rogers, and their Great Dane, Scooby-Doo, as they solve mysteries involving supposedly supernatural events, travelling the country in their van, the “Mystery Machine”.
This new live-action version will be written and exec produced by Josh Appelbaum (‘Zoo’, ‘Citadel’, ‘Alias’) & Scott Rosenberg (‘Jumanji’ – 2017/2019 versions’, ‘Zoo’, ‘Gone in 60 Seconds’), based on the Hanna-Barbera characters. Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter and Leigh London Redman exec produce for Berlanti Productions, alongside André Nemec and Jeff Pinkner for Midnight Radio.
Many of the people involved with the show have a history with Netflix. Appelbaum, Rosenberg and Midnight Radio were producers of ‘Cowboy Bebop’, although there weren’t writers on that… less than well received… adaptation. Berlanti Productions is responsible for the hugely popular Netflix drama ‘You’, the supernatural comic book adaptation ‘Chilling Adventures of Sabrina’, and most recently, the adaptation of DC Comics’s series ‘Dead Boy Detectives‘, which went straight into the Netflix Top Ten upon release.
This isn’t the first time ‘Scooby-Doo’ has been done in live-action. Two films were released in 2002 and 2004, penned by now DC Studios head, James Gunn, starring Freddie Prinze Jr., Sarah Michelle Gellar, Matthew Lillard and Linda Cardellini as the gang.
We should make it clear, this isn’t yet ordered as a series. At the moment Netflix has only ordered scripts, but should they like what they see, it will then go straight to series without a pilot. However, due to the interest in such a well-known property, Netflix paid a premium to land the show, so it will be very much in their interests for it to make it to screen.
We’ll let you know if and when we hear more on ‘Scooby-Doo: The Live-Action Series’.
