As Mystery Inc. returns to its origins, Matthew Lillard is passing the Shaggy torch to a new generation.
The Scooby-Doo (2002) and Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004) star recently reacted to news that Netflix has given an eight-episode order to a live-action origin series from Berlanti Productions.
“My general thought is that I’m really happy for them. I think that the show needs to come back,” he told Entertainment Weekly. “We haven’t done an animated series now in years, which I think is horrible. I think that it’s a great way for kids to understand storytelling. It’s the first introduction to ghost stories for a lot of kids, right? It’s about friendship and sticking together as a gang and working together to solve mysteries — and that normally it’s a dangerous white man behind a mask. These are the things that kids have to learn.”
Lillard added, “I think that having it back is good. My hope is that they hold onto what’s tried and true and take their hack at it. But the reality is that I’m sort of a purist when it comes to that franchise. The core of it is really about friendship. It’s really lovely, and I hope that they hold onto that.”
The project, from Midnight Radio, Berlanti Productions and Warner Bros. Television, landed for development at the streamer in a competitive situation last spring with a premium, script-to-series commitment.
Sarah Michelle Gellar, Freddie Prinze Jr., Linda Cardellini and Matthew Lillard in ‘Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed’ (2004) (Warner Brothers/courtesy Everett Collection)
Warner Brothers/Courtesy Everett Collection
Written by Midnight Radio’s Josh Appelbaum & Scott Rosenberg (Cowboy Bebop) based on characters created by Hanna-Barbera, the yet untitled Scooby-Doo series crafts an origin story of how the Mystery Inc. group got together and first teamed up to crack the haunting case that started it all.
During their final summer at camp, old friends Shaggy and Daphne get embroiled in a haunting mystery surrounding a lonely lost Great Dane puppy that may have been a witness to a supernatural murder. Together with the pragmatic and scientific townie, Velma, and the strange, but ever so handsome new kid, Freddy, they set out to solve the case that is pulling each of them into a creepy nightmare that threatens to expose all of their secrets.
