An all-new Scooby-Doo animated movie will be hitting theaters next year, and the project is nailing down its lead cast. Reportedly, Will Forte (The Last Man on Earth) has signed on to provide the voice of Shaggy. Having voiced Abraham Lincoln in The LEGO Movie and its sequel, Forte is no stranger to voice acting. His brainiac pal Velma has also been cast with the voice of Gina Rodriguez, best known for starring on Jane the Virgin.
Additionally, 30 Rock actor and comedian Tracy Morgan has also joined the cast, set to voice the Hanna-Barbera character Captain Caveman. Frank Welker, known for voicing Fred Jones since 1969 and Scooby-Doo since 2002, will be voicing Scooby in the movie; it's not yet clear if he'll be voicing Fred again as well.
Along with Will Forte as Shaggy and Gina Rodriguez as Velma, Tony Cervone (The Looney Tunes Show) directs, with Chris Columbus (Harry Potter), Charles Roven (Batman v Superman), and Allison Abbate (Space Jam) producing. The movie will be about Mystery Inc. teaming up with other Hanna-Barbera characters to "save the world from Dick Dastardly and his evil plans." The plot sound slightly similar to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse by involving characters from other universes, but this time, they will consist of different Hanna-Barbera shows, rather than bringing in different versions of the same characters.
Related: Scooby-Doo Meets Batman & Gandalf in LEGO Dimensions Trailer
This plot will be making Scooby-Doo more meta than the cartoon dog has ever been before, but given how Spider-Verse just won big at the Oscars, chances are Warner Bros. are going to feel that they're on the right track with taking the Scooby-Doo reboot in this direction.
It's curious that Matthew Lillard is not reprising the role of Shaggy. After playing the hungry mystery-solver in both live-action movies, Lillard went on to voice the character in many animated movie and video game appearances since then. With Welker doing the voice of Scooby-Doo, it would have made sense to bring in another longtime voice actor for Scooby's best buddy. For many fans, however, Lillard was just as good as original voice actor Casey Kasem in the role, and as good as Forte might be, Lillard's distinct Shaggy voice will surely be missed.
The last time Scooby-Doo had been featured on the big screen was in 2004. That's when Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed premiered in theaters, serving as a follow-up to the 2002 live-action movie. Lillard played Shaggy in both movies, co-starring with Freddie Prinze, Jr. as Fred, Sarah Michelle Gellar as Daphne, and Linda Cardellini as Velma. The voice of Scooby-Doo was provided by Neil Fanning. As of now, there aren't any plans to produce a new live-action version of Scooby-Doo, as the upcoming movie will be totally animated.
This new Scooby-Doo movie has been given a May 2020 release date by Warner Bros. At a time when nostalgia is more popular than ever, we'll see if mainstream audiences are willing to pay big bucks to see the titular dog back on the big screen. This information comes to us from The Hollywood Reporter.
