Casting was a mystery to longtime voice actor Matthew Lillard …
There’s a new animated Scooby-Doo movie coming to the big screen, and The Hollywood Reporter says that Saturday Night Live alum Will Forte will be stepping into the shivering shoes of Shaggy the hungry hippy.
That was news to Matthew Lillard, who’s been portraying Scooby’s human pal since 2010’s direct-to-video animated feature Scooby-Doo! Abracadabra-Doo:
“Well this sucks,” Lillard wrote on Twitter along with the link to the THR story. “What a crappy way to find out…. thanks Hollywood. You never sense to amaze me,” he added — later correcting his typo for “cease.”
Well this sucks.
What a crappy way to find out…. thanks Hollywood. You never sense to amaze me. https://t.co/QDdlMAqlrZ— matthew lillard (@MatthewLillard) March 2, 2019
DJ Casey Kasem originated the role in 1969, of course, for the original animated series Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! He returned on and off until relinquishing the role to Lillard, who originally was the first live-action Shaggy in 2002 and 2004 big-screen films before joining the animated Scooby-verse.
There have been no fewer than a dozen Scooby spinoff TV series, not counting direct-to-video or -cable animated and live-action movies. The most recent DVD feature, Scooby-Doo! and the Curse of the 13th Ghost, was a sequel to one of the TV spinoffs, 1985’s 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo featuring Vincent Price.
In the new, untitled Scoob! film project, which has been teased for a while and is now set for May 2020, THR reports that Gina Rodriguez of Jane the Virgin fame will give voice to Velma Dinkley, the bespectacled brains of the Mystery Machine team. The sleuth was recently played in direct-to-video movies and TV spinoffs by Kate Micucci and, before that, The Facts of Life star Mindy Cohn and others.
Frank Welker is also set to star; he’s voiced both Scooby himself and the trap-obsessed Fred going back into the mists of Mystery Machine history, though it’s not quite clear yet whether he’ll be resuming both roles. As for stylish but danger-prone Daphne Blake, who knows? Though, SNL and 30 Rock vet Tracy Morgan is reportedly playing another Hanna-Barbera character, Captain Caveman — so there’s going to be more than meddling kids in the mix to counter the schemes of classic cartoon villain Dick Dastardly.
As for the blindside to Lillard, hopefully this isn’t a reaction to recent dank Shaggy memes and his amusement at them — and, hopefully, all the smaller-screen Scooby escapades will continue with his involvement. I’m still miffed that Mindy Cohn isn’t Velma anymore …
Update: Lillard has responded to the public response to his response to the casting:
How do you know a meme is dead?
Get recast!
Need to say thank you for the outpouring of support from the Scoobyverse. It was a humiliating moment… it will pass. That said, it was comforting to recieve the love. Trying to figure out what’s next…thank you. #zoinks
— matthew lillard (@MatthewLillard) March 5, 2019
