‘Scooby-Doo’ Live-Action Netflix Series Casts Mckenna Grace as Daphne
Mckenna Grace is joining the “Scooby-Doo” live-action series at Netflix, Variety has learned from sources.
Grace will star as a young Daphne Blake in the show, which will delve into how the Mystery Inc. gang first met each other.
Netflix picked up the show for eight episodes in March 2025. The official logline for the show describes it as a modern reimagining of the popular cartoon show. “During their final summer at camp, old friends Shaggy and Daphne (Grace) get embroiled in a haunting mystery surrounding a lonely lost Great Dane puppy that may have been a witness to a supernatural murder,” the 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.”
The role marks a return to playing Daphne Blake for Grace. She voiced the young version of the character in the animated film “Scoob!” in 2020. She was to reprise the role in the prequel, “Scoob! Holiday Haunt,” but that film was axed by Warner Bros. Discovery in a cost-cutting move. Grace has also played the young version of main characters in shows like the Netflix series “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” and in films like “Captain Marvel” and “I, Tonya.”
Grace went on to receive an Emmy nomination in 2021 for outstanding guest actress in a drama for her work in the hit Hulu series “The Handmaid’s Tale.” Elsewhere in television, she is also known for her work in “The Young and the Restless,” “The Haunting of Hill House,” “Young Sheldon,” and “Designated Survivor.” In film, she has starred in projects like “Gifted,” “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” and “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire,” and “Five Night’s a Freddy’s 2.”
She is repped by CAA and Entertainment 360.
Josh Appelbaum and Scott Rosenberg serve as writers and showrunners and will also executive produce along with André Nemec and Jeff Pinkner under their Midnight Radio banner. Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter, and Leigh London Redman will executive produce via Berlanti productions. Warner Bros. Television will produce. Berlanti Productions is currently under an overall deal at WBTV, with the studio controlling the rights to the Hanna-Barbera characters.
This will not be the first live-action Scooby-Doo project to make it to the screen. Most famously, “Scooby-Doo” was released in 2002 and starred Freddie Prinze Jr., Sarah Michelle Gellar, Matthew Lillard, and Linda Cardellini, with Neil Fanning voicing Scooby. The film was a box office success, generating over $250 million worldwide. A sequel with the same cast, “Scooby-Doo: Monsters Unleashed,” came out in 2004 and grossed over $180 million. There was also the live-action TV film “Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins” and its sequel that were released in 2009 and 2010.
There have also been a wide range of Scooby-Doo animated projects over the years, beginning with the original cartoon series in the late 1960s. Various incarnations have followed over the years, spanning multiple animated series and films.
Grace will star as a young Daphne Blake in the show, which will delve into how the Mystery Inc. gang first met each other.
Netflix picked up the show for eight episodes in March 2025. The official logline for the show describes it as a modern reimagining of the popular cartoon show. “During their final summer at camp, old friends Shaggy and Daphne (Grace) get embroiled in a haunting mystery surrounding a lonely lost Great Dane puppy that may have been a witness to a supernatural murder,” the 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.”
The role marks a return to playing Daphne Blake for Grace. She voiced the young version of the character in the animated film “Scoob!” in 2020. She was to reprise the role in the prequel, “Scoob! Holiday Haunt,” but that film was axed by Warner Bros. Discovery in a cost-cutting move. Grace has also played the young version of main characters in shows like the Netflix series “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” and in films like “Captain Marvel” and “I, Tonya.”
Grace went on to receive an Emmy nomination in 2021 for outstanding guest actress in a drama for her work in the hit Hulu series “The Handmaid’s Tale.” Elsewhere in television, she is also known for her work in “The Young and the Restless,” “The Haunting of Hill House,” “Young Sheldon,” and “Designated Survivor.” In film, she has starred in projects like “Gifted,” “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” and “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire,” and “Five Night’s a Freddy’s 2.”
She is repped by CAA and Entertainment 360.
Josh Appelbaum and Scott Rosenberg serve as writers and showrunners and will also executive produce along with André Nemec and Jeff Pinkner under their Midnight Radio banner. Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter, and Leigh London Redman will executive produce via Berlanti productions. Warner Bros. Television will produce. Berlanti Productions is currently under an overall deal at WBTV, with the studio controlling the rights to the Hanna-Barbera characters.
This will not be the first live-action Scooby-Doo project to make it to the screen. Most famously, “Scooby-Doo” was released in 2002 and starred Freddie Prinze Jr., Sarah Michelle Gellar, Matthew Lillard, and Linda Cardellini, with Neil Fanning voicing Scooby. The film was a box office success, generating over $250 million worldwide. A sequel with the same cast, “Scooby-Doo: Monsters Unleashed,” came out in 2004 and grossed over $180 million. There was also the live-action TV film “Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins” and its sequel that were released in 2009 and 2010.
There have also been a wide range of Scooby-Doo animated projects over the years, beginning with the original cartoon series in the late 1960s. Various incarnations have followed over the years, spanning multiple animated series and films.