Ahead of Netflix's Scooby-Doo Reboot, Matthew Lillard Addresses His Future as Shaggy

Netflix will reimagine the story of how Mystery Inc. came to be with a live-action Scooby-Doo reboot that's now in production. Meanwhile, longtime Shaggy actor Matthew Lillard has revealed that he's still not done playing the iconic character just yet.

Lillard famously played a live-action version of Norville "Shaggy" Rogers in two theatrical Scooby-Doo films. He then transitioned to voicing an animated Shaggy in a slew of Scooby-Doo projects in the years since Casey Kasem retired in 2009. In a recent interview for the Phase Hero podcast, Lillard commented on his future with the franchise, letting it slip that he'll voice Shaggy once again for an upcoming animated series.

A New Scooby-Doo Cartoon Is About to Start Production

"We're about to go into production," Lillard said, quickly realizing he should probably hold off on making the official announcement. "I don't know if I'm allowed to say this, but... there may or may not be a new cartoon coming. Maybe."

While Lillard has been voicing Shaggy most often in animated Scooby-Doo projects, filmmakers have sometimes gone in a different direction. The 2020 prequel Scoob! recast the role with Will Forte voicing Shaggy, a decision that, at the time, left Lillard unsure if he'd ever be able to play the part again. In the new Phase Hero interview, Lillard agreed with host Brandon Davis that it's always better to go with established voice actors rather than just recasting Hollywood stars who may not have that experience.

"I mean, Grey DeLisle, who is on Scooby-Doo [as Daphne's voice], is a living legend. Frank Welker, who plays Fred, who plays Scooby-Doo, who plays the monster, is a living legend," Lillard said. "So, the idea that you are going to take 'Celebrity A,' and allow them to carry a movie with just their voice, is a terrible decision by Hollywood, because it's a very specific muscle."

He continued, "When you're doing animated films in Hollywood, and they cast an actor that doesn't use his voice as, like, the instrument it needs to be to carry a film emotionally, it's a mistake."

Tanner Hagen Is the Next Live-Action Shaggy

The next actor to portray Shaggy in live-action is Tanner Hagen in Netflix's Scooby-Doo: Origins. He joins Abby Ryder Fortson as Velma, Maxwell Jenkins as Fred, and Mckenna Grace as Daphne. Lillard has said he offered to help if there's any way for him to do so, but he's not officially attached to the project. It's not yet clear who will provide the voice of Scooby-Doo in the series, or even if he will be animated with CGI or be depicted with a real dog. The project has just started production and doesn't yet have a release date.

As for Lillard, the actor can currently be seen in the second season of Daredevil: Born Again on Disney+. He recently appeared in the horror films Five Nights at Freddy's 2 and Scream 7, the latter of which also featured Grace from Netflix's Scooby-Doo prequel. Lillard will also be seen in Mike Flanagan's upcoming Carrie series, based on the Stephen King novel, as well as Behemoth!, an upcoming drama from filmmaker Tony Gilroy.