Netflix's Scooby-Doo Live-Action TV Show Can Continue A Brilliant Matthew Lillard Career Trend (Without Shaggy)

Summary Matthew Lillard has returned to franchises by playing different roles.

Lillard's history with Scooby-Doo spans from live-action to voicing Shaggy in 26 animated movies.

A return to the Scooby-Doo franchise on Netflix's upcoming live-action show can honor Lillard's legacy creatively by having play a character that isn't Shaggy.

Matthew Lillard is best remembered for his performance as Shaggy in two live-action Scooby-Doo movies, and the upcoming live-action TV show on Netflix can continue a brilliant career trend for him without Shaggy. The Scooby-Doo franchise is one of the oldest, most profitable, and most beloved ones in the entertainment world, beginning in 1969 with the animated TV series Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!. The world of Scooby-Doo and the Mystery Inc. gang has since expanded with many more TV shows, various movies, video games, and more, and in 2002, they got the live-action treatment on the big screen.

The characters of Scooby-Doo were brought to life in Raja Gosnell’s Scooby-Doo, which was followed by a sequel, Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, in 2004. Matthew Lillard was cast to play Shaggy in both Scooby-Doo live-action theatrical movies, earning praise from critics and fans for his accurate and fun portrayal of Scooby’s best friend, becoming one of his most memorable roles. It might now be too late to bring Lillard back as a live-action version of Shaggy in Netflix’s upcoming TV series, but he can still be part of it in a way that would continue one of his best career trends.

Related Netflix's Live-Action Scooby-Doo TV Show Can Redeem The Franchise After $181 Million Failure The upcoming Netflix live-action Scooby-Doo TV show can make up for a disappointing franchise live-action failure that happened 20 years ago.

Matthew Lillard Has Returned To Franchises In Different Characters

Matthew Lillard Has Left His Mark In Different Franchises

Stu was killed at the end of Scream, but Lillard has since returned to the franchise twice.

Matthew Lillard has done a bit of everything in his acting career, though he’s mostly known for his lighter, more comedic roles. Lillard has been part of different worlds in horror, fantasy, and more, and interestingly enough, he has found ways to return to some of these in fun and organic ways. One of Lillard’s most unforgettable roles is Stu Macher in Wes Craven’s Scream, as he, along with his best friend Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich), triggered the Ghostface murders in the Scream saga.

She’s All That got a gender-bent remake in 2021 titled He’s All That, which brought Lillard back but now as Principal Bosch.

Stu was killed at the end of Scream, but Lillard has since returned to the franchise twice: as a partygoer in Scream 2 in a blink-and-you-miss-it moment and a voice cameo in Scream 2022. Back in 1999, Lillard appeared in the teen rom-com She’s All That as Brock Hudson, a reality TV star Taylor fell in love with and led her to break up with Zack (Freddie Prinze Jr.), triggering the events of the movie. She’s All That got a gender-bent remake in 2021 titled He’s All That, which brought Lillard back but now as Principal Bosch.

She’s All That was Lillard and Prinze Jr’s first project together, followed by Summer Catch and both live-action Scooby-Doo movies. He’s All That also brought back its main actress, Rachael Leigh Cook, though now as the mother of the main character.

Netflix’s upcoming Scooby-Doo live-action TV show can follow this line to bring Lillard back without casting him as Shaggy. As fun as it would be to see Lillard as Shaggy one more time, a lot of time has passed since he played the live-action version of the character, and Netflix’s TV show needs to be its own thing. Lillard can be part of the new Scooby-Doo live-action TV show as another character, either an ally to Mystery Inc., their employer, or a villain, following this specific career trend of his.

Matthew Lillard Has A Long History In The Scooby-Doo Franchise

Matthew Lillard Has A Strong Connection To Shaggy

Custom image by Yieder Chacon.

After Monsters Unleashed, Lillard kept playing Shaggy but in animated form, providing the voice for the character.

Matthew Lillard’s return to the live-action branch of the Scooby-Doo franchise would make sense thanks to his long history with the franchise. Gosnell’s movies were only the beginning of Lillard’s history with the world of Scooby-Doo. After Monsters Unleashed, Lillard kept playing Shaggy but in animated form, providing the voice for the character. Lillard has voiced Shaggy in 26 animated movies, various Robot Chicken episodes, a Batman TV series, episodes of Mad, eight Scooby-Doo TV specials, and many more.

Bringing Matthew Lillard back to the Scooby-Doo franchise on Netflix’s live-action TV show as a character that’s not Shaggy would be fun to watch and can make way for fun references to his long history as the character without having to play him again, while also adding to his incredible Scooby-Doo legacy.