As if Velma wasn’t enough of a creative misfire for the beloved cartoon franchise, a new report suggests that Warner Bros. Discovery and Netflix have not only teamed-up to produce a new, live-action Scooby-Doo series, but that it will be helmed by three of the most controversial creators in recent Western media history.
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Per an April 29th piece penned by The Hollywood Reporter‘s Lesley Goldberg, the as-of-yet-officially-unannounced project will supposedly be produced by The CW’s Arrowverse Greg Berlanti and Netflix’s Cowboy Bebop executive producers Josh Appelbaum and Scott Rosenberg, the latter of whom will also write it, and serve as a “live-action update of the classic cartoon”.
At current, the series is reported to have “a script-to-series commitment at Netflix, meaning if the script is well received, it would trigger a straight-to-series order”.
To this end, due to Warner Bros. Discovery and Netflix having yet to officially sign the deal for the project, when pressed by Goldberg for any word on its existence, representatives for both companies, as well as Berlanti’s titular Berlanti Productions firm, declined to comment.
As noted above, not only does the project’s potential home at Netflix spell trouble for its prospective quality, but so does the recent output of each of its three heralds.
In regards to Berlanti, while he did admittedly help to develop those Arrowverse entries which are widely considered to be well-produced and enjoyable, such as Arrow, The Flash, and Superman & Lois, he’s also been equally responsible for the universe’s more abysmal outings, including Supergirl, Titans, and the latter seasons of the Emerald Archer and Scarlet Speedster’s respective solo series.
As for Rosenberg and Appelbaum, in addition to the absolute s–tshow that was Netflix’s Cowboy Bebop, the pair’s individual filmographies are littered with mediocrity, with the former having served as an executive producer on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows and the latter in the same role on Jumanji: The Next Level.
However, when it comes to looking towards their future potential, their work history prior to Cowboy Bebop really doesn’t matter, because at the end of the day, they were still responsible for Cowboy Bebop.
This fact alone should not only disqualify the pair from ever being allowed to touch another creator’s work – remember, they green-lit the idea of Faye’s live-action character being someone who would unironically cry out “Welcome to the ouch, motherf–kers!” – if not barred from working in Hollywood all together, but also from receiving any benefit of the doubt that audiences may feel inclined to give them.
Given Warner Bros. Discovery and Netflix’s above declination to comment on the series’ production, as of writing, Netflix’s live-action Scooby-Doo series has yet to receive an official release date.