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The Mystery Machine is revving up, and we’ve got an exciting new casting tip to share. Sources tell What’s on Netflix that Paul Walter Hauser currently has an offer on the table for a fascinating role in Netflix’s upcoming live-action Scooby-Doo series: Scooby’s original owner.
In case you missed the news back in March 2025, Netflix officially handed a script-to-series commitment to a brand new one-hour live-action adaptation of the classic Hanna-Barbera cartoon. The highly anticipated project comes to us from Berlanti Productions and Warner Bros. Television, with writers Josh Appelbaum and Scott Rosenberg (Cowboy Bebop, Citadel) at the helm.
Since the initial announcement, things have been relatively quiet on the casting front as the creative team maps out this new iteration of Mystery Inc. We first got word of casting back in December 2025, with Frank Welker being tapped to voice Scooby-Doo, and last month, McKenna Grace was confirmed to be playing Daphne Blake.
While we’re expecting a full flurry of announcements from the trades about the remaining main characters, our sources say Paul Walter Hauser has been offered the role of “Scooby’s original owner.”
For die-hard Scooby fans, this character description is a massive hint that Appelbaum and Rosenberg are digging deep into the franchise’s lore—or perhaps rewriting it entirely. Traditionally, we’ve known Shaggy Rogers to be Scooby’s lifelong pal, though various animated iterations over the decades (from A Pup Named Scooby-Doo to 2020’s Scoob!) have tweaked exactly how the cowardly Great Dane and his snacking buddy first crossed paths. Bringing in an “original owner” points to a deeper, perhaps more serialized backstory for our favorite talking dog before he officially hops into the back of the Mystery Machine.
Cameras are due to begin rolling in Atlanta next month, on April 27th, and run through September. Expected to be titled Scooby Doo: Origins, the story follows “how the Mystery Inc. group got together and first teamed up to crack the haunting case that started it all. During their final summer at Camp Ruby-Spears, 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. 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.”
If Hauser signs the dotted line, it would be a massive get for the production. The Emmy-winning actor is having an absolutely spectacular run right now. Netflix subscribers will, of course, know him best as the beloved (and hilarious) Raymond “Stingray” Porter in Cobra Kai. He also recently lent his voice to the sentient embodiment of “the dark” in Netflix’s hit animated feature Orion and the Dark.
Outside of his work with Netflix, Hauser is set to star as comedy legend Chris Farley in Josh Gad’s upcoming SNL biopic, and he recently made his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut as Harvey Elder (aka Mole Man) in The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
As a reminder, this new live-action Scooby-Doo series is being executive produced by Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter, and Leigh London Redman for Berlanti Productions, alongside Appelbaum, Rosenberg, André Nemec, and Jeff Pinkner under their Midnight Radio banner.
Are you excited about the prospect of Paul Walter Hauser joining the Scooby-Doo universe? What do you think an “original owner” means for Shaggy and Scooby’s origin story? Let us know in the comments down below!
