Netflix confirmed the additions on August 27, but disclosed neither character. Paul Walter Hauser is also part of the series in an undisclosed role, giving a mystery show a useful collection of actors audiences currently have no reason to trust.
The central gang is less mysterious. Mckenna Grace is Daphne Blake, Tanner Hagen is Shaggy Rogers, Abby Ryder Fortson plays Velma Dinkley, and Maxwell Jenkins is Fred Jones.
The supporting cast is getting unusually deep
André Benjamin is the headline surprise. His music career as half of Outkast hardly needs introduction, but he has also maintained a selective acting career that includes Jimi: All Is by My Side and Claire Denis' High Life.
Cathy Moriarty brings a very different screen history, from Raging Bull to Casper. Netflix has not indicated whether either performer is a relative, camp employee, town resident, authority figure or something much stranger.
They join an ensemble that also includes Rusty Schwimmer, Peter Macon, Sara Gilbert, Bruce McGill, Sherilyn Fenn, Sauriyan Sapkota and several other performers. The size of that list suggests the first mystery will have a fairly crowded circle of potential allies and suspects.
Scooby himself is breaking a live-action rule
For the first time in the franchise, the live-action Scooby will be played by a real Great Dane rather than a fully digital dog.
That is a substantial visual departure from the theatrical live-action movies, which placed a CG Scooby beside human performers.
It also fits the premise. During their final summer at camp, Shaggy and Daphne become involved in a mystery surrounding a lonely lost Great Dane puppy that may have witnessed a supernatural murder.
Mystery Inc. has not become Mystery Inc. yet
Velma enters the story as a pragmatic, scientifically minded local. Fred is the handsome but unusual new kid. The case draws all four teenagers together while threatening to expose secrets of their own.
Scooby-Doo stories normally begin after the important social work has already happened. Everyone knows their role, the gang is mobile, and solving mysteries is simply what these people do.
Origins is using its eight-episode format to move further back. The first supernatural case is also the event that creates the group.
Netflix is treating another old franchise as a modern series
Josh Appelbaum and Scott Rosenberg are serving as showrunners and executive producers. Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter, Leigh London Redman, André Nemec, Jeff Pinkner and Adrienne Erickson are also executive producers, while Toby Haynes is directing the premiere.
Production is underway in Atlanta. Netflix has previously announced the series for 2027, although it has not set a specific premiere date.
For now, André Benjamin and Cathy Moriarty remain exactly where a Scooby-Doo supporting character traditionally belongs before the mask comes off: present, interesting and unexplained.
