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Netflix makes history with its new Scooby-Doo show - by making Scooby a real dog

Who's a real good boy? Netflix's new Scooby-Doo, that's who

Published on Mon Jun 08 2026

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In a break with tradition that is at once surprising and also surprising that it’s taken so long, the dog at the center of Netflix’s upcoming Scooby-Doo reboot is going to be… an actual dog. Ruh-roh.

Netflix made the announcement June 8, noting, “For more than 50 years, Scooby-Doo has been a pop-culture powerhouse. The franchise has spawned three theatrical films, more than a dozen animated series, and nearly 40 animated home entertainment movies. But Scooby-Doo: Origins marks the first time Scooby-Doo will appear as a real dog.” So much for anyone hoping that the new Doo is a CGI-creation a la Superman’s Krypto.

Or… perhaps he is. After all, although the Netflix announcement namechecks the human cast of the upcoming show Scooby Doo: Origins — that’d be Tanner Hagen, Maxwell Jenkins, Abby Ryder Fortson, and Mckenna Grace as the four human sidekicks, with Paul Walter Hauser in an undisclosed role — it doesn’t actually name the canine actor taking on the iconic role. That’s far from a deciding factor, to be fair, and Occam’s razor (and, perhaps more importantly, Occam’s pocket book) would suggest that, sure, it’s probably a real dog simply because that is a far cheaper option than a fully CGI pup. And yet…

The new show will tell of the first supernatural case solved by the Mystery Inc. gang, as four friends and a newfound pup solve what appears to be a spooky murder. Production on the show started in April, and it’s expected to debut in 2027 on the streamer. But can audiences really wait that long to see more of this little guy? Jinkies.

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Graeme McMillan: Popverse Editor Graeme McMillan (he/him) has been writing about comics, culture, and comics culture on the internet for close to two decades at this point, which is terrifying to admit. He completely understands if you have problems understanding his accent.