Netflix has revealed its full ensemble for Scooby-Doo: Origins, the live-action prequel series whose first look the streamer rolled out Friday afternoon. McKenna Grace will play Daphne, with Tanner Hagen as Shaggy, Abby Ryder Fortson as Velma, and Maxwell Jenkins as Fred, with the title role of Scooby played, for the first time in the franchise’s history, by an actual Great Dane puppy rather than a CG-animated or fully voiced character.
The premise, as Netflix’s PR materials describe it, is a deliberate departure from the Mystery Inc. canon every previous Scooby-Doo project has held to: the show is set during the four leads’ final summer at Camp Ruby-Spears, the fictional Northern-Massachusetts overnight camp the series places about an hour outside Salem. The title puppy, a Great Dane named Scoobert by the cast, may or may not have witnessed what one of the episode loglines calls “a supernatural murder.” Variety reported the cast was finalized in March and that filming has been underway in Vancouver since April.
Josh Appelbaum and Scott Rosenberg, the duo behind the Mission: Impossible-Fallout-and-Jumanji-Welcome-to-the-Jungle co-writing partnership, created Origins. Sara Gilbert, who has been quietly building a Netflix-overall-deal stream of work since exiting The Conners last year, and Rusty Schwimmer are among the 13 other actors Netflix added to the ensemble Friday, though their character assignments remain under embargo. Deadline reported the producing slate also includes Warner Bros. Animation under its existing Hanna-Barbera license.
The casting marks the most direct continuity bet the franchise has taken in five years. McKenna Grace, fresh off Nimrods, the August teen comedy we covered Friday, is the highest-billed name in the ensemble. Abby Ryder Fortson, who broke out in Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret in 2023, brings her own Vulture-cover-story discoverability to Velma. Hagen, the 18-year-old breakout of NBC’s Found, gets Shaggy, and Maxwell Jenkins, the eldest child of Janet McTeer’s Lost in Space ensemble, takes Fred. Frank Welker, who has voiced Scooby since 2002, has not been confirmed for the series.
Netflix’s live-action push for legacy intellectual property has been one of the streamer’s most-watched 2026 strategic positions. Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 2 returned in May, the One Piece Season 2 rollout begins in late June, and the rumored Mighty Ducks reboot has been quietly cleared for a 2027 development slot. Scooby-Doo: Origins, by virtue of its July 2027 launch window, will land roughly six months after the second season of Wednesday returns.
The casting also lands inside Netflix’s broader 2026 legal-and-corporate moment. Tyra Banks sued the streamer this week over editing of her Reality Check docuseries, as our coverage detailed; Comcast acquisition chatter surged around connected-TV-distribution-leverage rival Roku Friday, per our Roku stock dispatch; and the cleared Paramount-Warner merger has reshaped how Netflix is competing for legacy-IP titles into 2027.
Scooby-Doo: Origins premieres on Netflix in 2027. The streamer has not yet announced an episode count, but industry trackers expect a 10-episode first season ordered to a two-season pickup pattern. A trailer is expected in early 2027 alongside the first promotional poster set.
