We already got gritty reboots for Archie and Sabrina the Teenage Witch with Riverdale and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, and it looks like another kid-friendly property from their batch is also going to get the gritty reboot treatment.
According to Variety, a live-action Scooby-Doo series is now in development for Netflix via WBTV. Described to be a ‘one-hour drama project,’ the series is said to be nearing a deal that is a script-to-series commitment.
Josh Appelbaum and Scott Rosenberg will be writing the series, but they will also executive produce along with André Nemec and Jeff Pinkner under their Midnight Radio banner (Venom, High Fidelity, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol). It’s also worth noting that the series will be developed under the Berlanti productions banner, the same house that gave us shows like Riverdale, Arrow, Superman & Lois, The Flash, and You.
With the premise of teenagers going around solving crimes and mysteries, it’s actually odd how wholesome the series turned out. It was a no-brainer that a property like Scooby-Doo would get the gritty crime series treatment; I mean, they’re already doing it through animation via the Velma series.
So far, the most popular live-action adaptation of Scooby-Doo were the James Gunn-written films which came out back in the 2000s. There have also been TV movies made which came out in 2009 and 2010, but they never really did get the same kind of popularity that the original theaterically released films did.
With Berlanti Productions at the helm, we should be expecting this series to be aiming for the young adult market. I’m just curious if they’re going to have a CGI Scooby running around, or just a normal dog—like what the did with Salem in Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.
No release date has been announced for the live-action Scooby-Doo series on Netflix.
