McKenna Grace is quietly building one of the most impressive resumes in Hollywood for someone her age, and this latest casting has everyone on the internet paying full attention. Here is everything to know about the role and why fans are losing it.
McKenna Grace on landing the Daphne role
Grace started acting at a young age and has steadily worked her way through a range of projects that most actors twice her age would envy. She broke through with a scene-stealing turn in Gifted alongside Chris Evans, then went on to appear in Captain Marvel, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, The Handmaid’s Tale, and The Bad Seed. More recently, she starred in The School for Good and Evil and took on a lead role in the thriller Slanted.
At 19, she has already built a body of work spanning drama, horror, sci-fi, and everything in between, and the momentum around her name has been steadily growing with each new project.
Now she has landed what might be her most personally meaningful role yet. Grace has been cast as Daphne Blake in Netflix’s upcoming live-action Scooby-Doo series, and she made no effort to play it cool about it. She revealed she dressed up as Daphne for two or three Halloweens as a kid, called the character her all-time favorite, and said she was going back to rewatch every Scooby-Doo film and series to prepare. She also shared a childhood photo of herself in the Daphne costume alongside the announcement, saying she could barely believe it was real.
The connection to the character predates this casting. Grace previously voiced Daphne in the 2020 animated film Scoob! and was attached to the follow-up Scoob!: Holiday Haunt before Warner Bros. shelved the finished project. Taking on the live-action version now feels like the role finally catching up to her.
Speaking to THR, Grace put it plainly: “I’m so excited! I love Daphne; I dressed up as her for 2 or 3 Halloweens. I’m obsessed with Daphne, she’s my favorite character… I’m gonna rewatch every Scooby Doo movie & series.”
The show is expected to be titled Scooby-Doo: Origins and will carry an eight-episode order on Netflix. Filming is set to begin in late April and run through September 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia. Josh Appelbaum and Scott Rosenberg are writing the series, which comes from Midnight Radio and Berlanti Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television.
The story follows Shaggy and Daphne during their final summer at camp, where a mystery involving a Great Dane puppy and a possible supernatural murder brings the future Mystery Inc. gang together for the first time.
Sarah Michelle Gellar, who played Daphne in the 2002 and 2004 live-action films, responded publicly to the news, telling Grace she would be perfect in the role.
Fans have taken that sentiment and run with it. The reaction online has been overwhelmingly warm, with many pointing to the bigger picture of where Grace’s career is heading. Viewers have been connecting the dots across her recent work, noting that everything she has been building toward is finally getting the attention it deserves.
Others simply pointed to how genuinely excited she seemed about the role, with many saying her enthusiasm and appreciation for the work are exactly what make her someone worth rooting for. The consensus seems to be that this casting could not have gone to a better person.
The series is expected to arrive on Netflix sometime in 2027.
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