Atlanta hip-hop icon André 3000 is heading back into the Mystery Inc. universe. The OutKast star, born André Benjamin, has joined the cast of Netflix’s live-action series Scooby-Doo: Origins in a recurring role, with production already underway across metro Atlanta.

Netflix’s Scooby-Doo Taps Andre 3000

The announcement lands as cameras roll on a modern origin story for Scooby, Shaggy, Daphne, Velma, and Fred — more than half a century after the original Hanna-Barbera cartoon first aired.

Details of Benjamin’s character have not been disclosed. Raging Bull and Casper actress Cathy Moriarty is also joining in a recurring capacity.

A hometown artist on a hometown set

For Atlanta, the casting has an extra layer of hometown logic. Benjamin is one of the city’s most recognizable cultural figures. The series has been shooting locally since late April and is expected to wrap in early September, with work at Cinespace Film Studios, Cinelease Studios in Conyers, and on-location summer-camp scenes in nearby Rutledge. Local reports say the production is operating under the code name “Talbot Pines.”

This is not Benjamin’s first brush with the franchise. As OutKast, he and Big Boi — with Killer Mike and Sleepy Brown — contributed “Land of a Million Drums” to the soundtrack of the 2002 live-action Scooby-Doo film. Two decades later, he is stepping in front of the camera instead of onto the soundtrack.4

Benjamin has a long acting résumé beyond music, including Jimi: All Is by My Side, High Life, Four Brothers, Idlewild, and Be Cool.

How the gang first comes together

Netflix describes Scooby-Doo: Origins as a modern reimagining of the mystery-solving teens and their very special dog. The official logline places the story at the end of summer camp: old friends Shaggy and Daphne get pulled into a haunting case involving a lonely, lost Great Dane puppy that may have witnessed a supernatural murder. They join forces with scientific townie Velma and new kid Fred as the mystery threatens to expose their secrets.

The young leads are:

Mckenna Grace as Daphne Blake
Tanner Hagen as Norville “Shaggy” Rogers
Abby Ryder Fortson as Velma Dinkley
Maxwell Jenkins as Fred Jones

The wider ensemble includes Paul Walter Hauser, Sara Gilbert, Bruce McGill, Sherilyn Fenn, Rusty Schwimmer, and others. Character specifics for many of the adult roles remain under wraps.

Josh Appelbaum and Scott Rosenberg are the showrunners and writers. Greg Berlanti’s Berlanti Productions is producing with Midnight Radio and Warner Bros. Television. Toby Haynes directed the first episode. The series is slated for eight episodes and a 2027 Netflix premiere.

For Atlanta viewers, the story has a simple hook: one of the city’s defining artists is on a major streaming set in his own backyard, circling a franchise he already helped soundtrack a generation ago. Like any good Scooby-Doo plot, the rest — including who André 3000 is actually playing — is still a mystery.

Beside Scooby, There are so many movies filmed in Atlanta these days that it’s hard to keep up with it all. That’s why I suggest you subscribe to AtlantaFi.com to get all the freshest movie casting calls, celeb sightings and Atlanta happenings delivered to your inbox.

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