Netflix Scooby-Doo reboot casts real dog as the icon (first look)

The 2027 series is bucking the animated dog trend

Netflix's upcoming live-action Scooby-Doo show has finally introduced its star, and for the first time in the franchise's nearly 60-year history, Scooby himself will be played by an actual dog.

On Monday, Netflix shared a first look at the Great Dane taking on the role in Scooby-Doo: Origins, a new live-action series currently in production in Atlanta. While Scooby-Doo has appeared in plenty of live-action projects over the years, including the early-2000s theatrical movies starring Freddie Prinze Jr., Sarah Michelle Gellar, Matthew Lillard, and Linda Cardellini, those adaptations relied on a CG version of the talking canine. This time around, Netflix is going with the real thing. I have questions.

Is the dog actually a real dog? A press still certainly looks authentic, but in the age of generative AI and computer graphics replacing almost every "live-action" animal that appears on screen, you'd be fair to question the authenticity. But sources close to the series tell Polygon, yes, the pup is real — in the photo and on set.

The choice bucks a broader Hollywood trend. As Polygon previously explored in a feature on the growing debate over real animals versus CG creations, studios have increasingly embraced digital creatures as visual effects improve and concerns about animal welfare become a bigger part of production conversations. Scooby-Doo: Origins is instead betting that there's still something special about putting an actual Great Dane in front of the camera.

It also means Scooby joins a surprisingly prestigious lineage of canine screen stars. The role places him in the company of Uggie, the Jack Russell terrier who stole scenes in The Artist; the pit bull actor Cha Cha, who played Daisy in John Wick; and the many collies who have portrayed Lassie across film and television. For a character who has spent decades as an animated icon becoming a flesh-and-blood dog is a notable. Netflix would not name the specific dog actor playing Scooby in Origins, so it's unclear if this is a first-timer or a veteran, but his IMDb StarMeter is poised to blow up regardless when the show rolls around.

Scooby-Doo: Origins serves as a modern reimagining of Mystery Inc.'s earliest days. According to Netflix, the series begins during the gang's final summer at camp, where old friends Shaggy Rogers and Daphne Blake become entangled in a mystery surrounding a lonely lost Great Dane puppy that may have witnessed a supernatural murder. To solve the case, they're joined by Velma Dinkley, described as a scientific townie, and Freddy, a strange but handsome newcomer. Together, the four teenagers find themselves pulled into a mystery that threatens to expose long-buried secrets while dragging them into what Netflix describes as a "creepy nightmare."

The cast includes Mckenna Grace as Daphne, Tanner Hagen as Shaggy, Abby Ryder Fortson as Velma, Maxwell Jenkins as Fred, and Paul Walter Hauser in an undisclosed role. The series comes from showrunners, writers, and executive producers Josh Appelbaum and Scott Rosenberg, whose credits include everything from Michael Bay's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movies, CBS' Zoo, the super-sized Amazon spy series Citadel, and producing the live-action Cowboy Bebop for Netflix.

While not as drastic an overhaul to Scooby lore as HBO Max's recent Velma, Origins represents another significant attempt to seed Mystery Inc. back into a new generation's lexicon — big "Riverdale for Scoob" vibes. The setup also appears to lean more heavily into supernatural horror than many previous incarnations of the franchise, which puts it closer to The 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo in the canon if you wanna go deep. Maybe you can understand why my entire life is riding on Netflix getting live-action Scooby right.

Scooby-Doo: Origins is expected to premiere globally on Netflix in 2027. Will the dog talk? Netflix isn't — the streamer declined to reveal to Polygon whether the magic of CG will allow the dog to talk in Babe-like fashion. So there's one more mystery to solve.

In the meantime, let's listen to the greatest Scooby-Doo theme song in franchise history, courtesy of Stew.