A Passionate Appreciation of Matthew Lillard’s ‘Scooby-Doo’ Tour de Force (Really)

This summer is the 20th anniversary of the beloved millennial/Gen-Z cult classic Scooby-Doo. (Zoinks, we’re old!)

The 2002 live-action adaptation featured a cast of Hollywood’s then-hottest meddling kids, including Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jr. It was a prolific milestone for the franchise, which launched over 50 years ago.

One reason for that could be screenwriter James Gunn’s successful one-man character assassination of Scrappy-Doo, who hasn’t made an appearance in Scooby media since. (Ruh-roh!) But for our Scooby Snacks—er, money—the key was ’90s charismatic heartthrob Matthew Lillard and his pitch-perfect performance as Shaggy Rogers, who he’s now portrayed for 20 years in various forms of media.

On the occasion of this anniversary, it’s time to give Lillard, whose performance could have been written off as goofy or too campy—or, heck, ruined his career—his due.

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When Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? debuted in 1969, radio personality and DJ Casey Kasem was the first voice actor to bring the charismatically cowardly, vegetarian-based, character to life. Appearing in over 30 related projects over the course of 40 years, Kasem defined the character for multiple generations. When the Raja Gosnell-directed live-action adaptation was in the works, actors such as Jim Carrey and Mike Myers were reportedly considered for the role. Thankfully, Lillard landed the part.

The young actor was one of the ’90s most versatile performers, appearing in such films as Hackers and Scream. Audiences adored his upbeat and hyperactive energy. Even when he was portraying Stu, one of two killers in the first Scream installments, you couldn’t help but adore his gleefully manic behavior.

When Lillard played Shaggy in the live-action adaptation, he went above and beyond to capture the essence—or, gamers might say, “Ultra Instinct”—of the iconic slacker character. Too many actors who appear in live-action adaptations miss the point when it comes to embodying the zest of what makes the characters so endearing in the original animated properties. (See: Jason Lee in every Alvin and the Chipmunks movie, Breckin Meyer in Garfield, Neil Patrick Harris in Smurfs.) But Lillard didn’t fall into that trap.

Lillard’s kinetic energy was as close as a human could get to the cartoon itself. His lively physicality translated perfectly for the big screen, and he had obvious—and necessary—chemistry with his co-stars Gellar, Prinze, and Linda Cardellini. But the more impressive component was the spark between him and Scooby.

It doesn’t matter how dated that CG dog looked, their relationship felt real, thanks to him. Even when the movie was eventually trashed by critics, every positive criticism was towards Lillard’s performance. Michael Rechtshaffen wrote in The Hollywood Reporter, “It's absolutely spooky how Lillard channels the Shagster right down to the original Casey Kasem-furnished voice.”

Due to the commercial success of that movie, which racked up just over $275 million worldwide, the franchise was revitalized. It spawned a new series called What’s New, Scooby-Doo? in 2003, with Kasem making his final appearance as Shaggy, and the 2004 sequel Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed.

After Kasem retired, Lillard threw his hat in the ring to replace him as Shaggy’s voice. In an interview with What Joe Writes in 2010 timed to the short-lived series Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, Lillard discussed why he wanted to be the guy to take up the Shaggy mantle after.

“I loved Casey [Kasem], I grew up on the show and I heard they were doing new cartoons and so I put it out there that if they needed a Shaggy I would love to do it,” he said. “Eventually, they came to me with an offer to do one of the DVDs. From there I said to them up front that I would love to be the voice of Shaggy, if you’ll have me and if Casey is done doing the voice. I told them I would love to be the guy to do it for a long time. And that’s kind of how I got here.”

From thenceforth, Lillard returned to his rightful place in the Mystery Machine, voicing Shaggy in countless series iterations and direct-to-DVD movies since. Scooby-Doo fanatics—and, yes, we exist—still praise his performance in the corners of the web where we lurk. When Lillard was replaced by Will Forte in the 2020 animated feature SCOOB!, the internet wasn’t having it.

It’s been 20 years since Lillard first played the role, but he’s clearly still fond of the character and values his connection to it. Recently, for example, he partnered with Airbnb to host “three groovy stays” in a recreation of the Mystery Machine in honor of the movie’s anniversary.

It’s rare to see an actor not only fully embody an already-beloved role, but have no qualms being associated with it for 20 years—going so far as to embrace it as much as he has. The green V-neck shirt and brown bell bottoms will always look good on Lillard.

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