After years of animated Scooby-Doo shows where the biggest mystery was whether Shaggy was high or just perpetually confused, Netflix has decided to grace us with a live-action series. Because apparently, turning everything into live-action is the new national pastime — right after complaining about remakes and pretending we don’t watch them anyway.
The casting news dropped faster than Velma’s glasses in a haunted house: Mckenna Grace, who’s apparently been collecting franchise paychecks like Pokémon cards (Ghostbusters, Frozen, and now this), will play Daphne. Congrats to her for achieving the Hollywood hat trick: starring in three franchises your parents feel weirdly nostalgic about!
For those keeping score at home, this is the same Daphne who was last seen in live-action being portrayed by Sarah Michelle Gellar in those early 2000s movies. You know, the ones written by James Gunn before he discovered superheroes and started making them actually weird instead of just “a talking dog solves crimes” weird.
Netflix seems determined to Scooby-fy everything. They’ve already given us Velma, the animated series that made everyone angry by being… well, actually good if you’re not a manbaby who thinks women having personalities is “woke propaganda.” Constance Wu voiced Daphne there, in case you’re keeping track of who’s voiced this character more times than Batman has been rebooted.
And let’s not forget 2020’s Scoob!, which decided the Mystery Inc. gang needed a superhero makeover because apparently, “four teens and a talking dog solving fake hauntings” wasn’t enough for modern audiences. That version had Amanda Seyfried as Daphne, while McKenna Grace voiced young Daphne — completing the circle of Daphne like some kind of cosmic Daphne-ception.
The plot description Netflix released sounds like it was generated by an AI that watched too many teen dramas while high on Scooby Snacks:
A modern reimagining of the iconic mystery-solving group of teens and their very special dog. 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.
Wow, Netflix, way to take something simple and add approximately 47 layers of unnecessary complexity! Nothing says “Scooby-Doo” like “supernatural murder” and “secrets being exposed.” I can already picture the trailer: “In a world where friendship is tested, mysteries are dark, and Shaggy might actually have to share his food…”
The series is set for eight episodes, which is exactly enough time to solve eight mysteries or for Netflix to decide it’s too expensive and cancel it after two seasons regardless of how good it is. (Cough October Faction cough).
Finn McFrame, celebrated satirical mastermind and self-proclaimed “Emperor of Irony,” started his illustrious career as a cinematographer, where his expertise in capturing every single frame of a squirrel stealing a baguette earned him accolades at obscure film festivals.
Born in the glamorous town of Boring, Oregon, Finn grew up with dreams of being a Hollywood director until he realized that satire, not cinema, was his true calling—or at least the one that let him sleep until noon.
Finn McFrame: changing the world, one satirical lens flare at a time.
