If there’s a beloved kids’ property to be grittily rebooted, you can be sure that Greg Berlanti will sniff it out. His grown-up Powerpuff Girls series didn’t work out, but the prolific TV producer is giving it another go with Scooby-Doo. Netflix announced today that it had ordered an eight-episode, Berlanti-produced “modern reimagining” of the classic teen-and-canine caper. The show will feature real actors (although the talking dog will presumably be fake), making it the first live-action Scooby-Doo series in the franchise’s history.
The show—written and showrun by Midnight Radio’s Josh Appelbaum (Citadel) and Scott Rosenberg (Venom)—is going back to the beginning. “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,” the series’ logline reads. “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.”
“One of my first and favorite jobs in Hollywood was sitting with Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera while they signed animation cells,” Berlanti said in a statement. “Josh and Scott and everyone at Midnight Radio have crafted a story that captures their amazing spirits and their genius creation.” In his own statement, Peter Friedlander, VP of Scripted Series at Netflix, added, “Together with creative powerhouses Berlanti Productions and Midnight Radio, we’re co*mitted to delighting longtime fans and opening up a world of groovy adventures for a new era of meddling kids.”
No cast has been announced as of this writing, although the cast of the original 2002 live-action film—Freddie Prinze Jr., Sarah Michelle Gellar, Matthew Lillard, Linda Cardellini, and Neil Fanning as the voice of Scooby—will be hard to beat.
Mystery Inc. has been quite busy since its creation over 50 years ago. The gang has appeared in a wide variety of interpretations over the years, including, most recently, Mindy Kaling’s canceled Velma on Max, and shelved Warner Bros. film Scoob! Holiday Haunt. Maybe the new version of the crew can solve the mystery of why those titles met their too-early demise.