Scooby-Doo Is Part of One of HBO Max’s Biggest Identity Issues
September 14, 2025 | by ltcinsuranceshopper

Ever since 1969, Scooby-Doo has been a mainstay in popular culture. Worldwide, the talking dog is known as one of the most famous mystery solvers, joined by his four human companions with their distinct (and dated) outfits that make them instantly recognizable. For decades, the Joe Ruby and Ken Spears-created children’s cartoon has been the gold standard of Saturday morning animation, making folks laugh, cry, and holler for more. Despite the Great Dane’s longevity, however, as of September 2025, HBO Max has removed nearly every Scooby cartoon from the platform. What gives? That’s what we’d like to know…
HBO Max Has Almost Entirely Removed ‘Scooby-Doo’ From Its Library
For the past several months, HBO Max has been making some controversial decisions regarding its library of classic Saturday morning cartoons. First, it got rid of the original Looney Tunes, which outraged many fans in the wake of The Day The Earth Blew Up and the announcement that Coyote vs. Acme is to be released. This has led many to question if Warner Bros. hates Bugs Bunny, and that’s a fair question to ponder. But since March, the streamer has been dwindling down its collection of Scooby-Doo content as well, and that’s just as problematic.
Once home to nearly every Scooby series since the original Scooby-Doo! Where Are You? (including some of the lesser-known installments, like Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get A Clue!), HBO Max dropped most of its Scooby material over the course of several months. The final nail in the coffin was at the beginning of September, when Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?, The Scooby-Doo Show, and What’s New, Scooby-Doo? were finally removed as well. Now, only two Scooby adventures remain: the theatrically-released animated film Scoob! and the direct-to-video feature Trick or Treat Scooby-Doo! Aside from these two movies, Scooby-Doo has been banished from HBO Max.
Previously, when sitting down on a Saturday morning to enjoy some of the most iconic classic cartoons out there, HBO Max was the greatest destination. With Bugs Bunny and the rest of the Looney gang, hilarity always ensues, but Scooby-Doo was always top dog when it came to children’s entertainment. Each incarnation offered something new or different for viewers, and parents could always choose if they wanted the monsters to be real or not, depending on which cartoon they allowed their kids to watch. That’s part of the charm of a character like Scooby-Doo — mystery or no mystery, there is always something for everybody. To this day, this author’s profile image on the streamer is of Scooby himself, but is this an accurate representation of the direction HBO Max is going?
Frankly, the whole thing feels like a complete and utter misfire on the streamer’s part. It’s been the case for some time now that Warner Bros. has struggled with properly managing the Mystery Inc. gang. Between canceling the Scoob!: Holiday Haunt movie (which still has yet to see the light of day), everything about the irreverent Velma show, and now axing the talking dog and his friends from their primary streaming home, one has to wonder why Scooby-Doo has been so poorly treated.
HBO Max’s Rebranding Struggle May Be Alienating Larger WB Audiences
While the inevitable re-rebrand from Max to HBO Max didn’t come as a surprise to many, what has been strange is that WB’s go-to streaming service has decided to get rid of most of its children’s cartoon content. Sure, a modern Looney Tunes show, a handful of Cartoon Network programs, and some animated DC Comics-based series were spared, but the previously enormous library of old-school cartoons (namely Scooby-Doo) has evaporated into the ether. Even worse, Warner Bros. dissolved Boomerang a year ago with the specific intent that its library (which also included Tom and Jerry, ’70s Hanna-Barbera material, and others like The Flintstones and The Jetsons) would be moved to the Max library instead. (Cartoon Network’s website was likewise folded into the streaming platform, another avenue through which viewers revisited classic Scooby.) But now, with HBO Max returning to its previous branding and erasing the “content for the entire family” vibe chased before, it appears to be in the middle of an identity crisis.
Ever since HBO Now and HBO Go became HBO Max, the streamer has wrestled with its exact identity. What was first a comfort during the pandemic era (and a convenience for those who didn’t want to risk seeing new WB releases in theaters) soon became muddled. Eventually, the service dropped HBO to become simply Max, leaning more into Warner Bros. wide range of content across countless genres and age ranges. But at some point in the last year, that all changed. Now, the streamer has returned to its HBO name, with many subscribers wondering what the point was in all of this.
For fans who just want to enjoy every Scooby-Doo series from the late ’60s to the present, we have nowhere to turn. At least when the service was called Max (pulling from other outlets like Boomerang to fill the library), it felt like there was something for everyone in the household. Whether you preferred gritty prestige dramas from HBO or kids’ cartoons about groovy mystery solvers, everyone was covered. So, where can viewers go to enjoy Scooby-Doo cartoons and features? Well, sadly, the gang has largely split up.
Where Can Scooby-Doo Be Streamed Post-HBO Max?
Again, only Scoob! and Trick or Treat Scooby-Doo! are available for streaming on HBO Max. For more adult fans, both seasons of Velma are still on the platform, but can we even really consider that Scooby-Doo if the titular talking dog isn’t involved? If you’re looking for the last three Scooby shows to have been axed from the HBO platform — Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?, The Scooby-Doo Show, and What’s New, Scooby-Doo? — they can each be found for free on Tubi. So, that’s good news for folks hoping not to add another streaming service to their monthly budget. Considering those three are perhaps the most popular and beloved of the Scooby television library, we can rest easy knowing they’re still available. Additionally, Prime Video is the new home to The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries series (for now), and Netflix has hosted the fan-favorite Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated (as well as the famed “Scoobynatural” episode of Supernatural) for some time.
Unfortunately, after HBO Max’s great Scooby purge, most iterations of the talking dog and his pals are completely unaccounted for. With over a dozen different individual animated shows out there, it’s disappointing that so few are still available at a moment’s notice. Recent incarnations like Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? and Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! have left the building entirely after being dropped, and old-school cartoons like Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo are nowhere to be found either. And that’s not even counting the 20-something made-for-TV or direct-to-video Scooby animated flicks that have kept the franchise fresh for decades. Aside from Trick or Treat, Scooby-Doo!, none of those animated classics, which include fan-favorites like Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island and Scooby-Doo and the Witch’s Ghost, are housed on any streaming platform. While most of these productions can still be rented or purchased digitally from various outlets, Scooby’s streaming reign appears to be over.
Admittedly, anything with HBO in the title doesn’t automatically scream “kid-friendly,” but part of the draw for many families to add HBO Max to their monthly subscription list is that it had material for all ages. Considering that HBO Max is basically an output for Warner Bros. content, there should absolutely be more Scooby-Doo material on there. After all, Scooby’s endearing popularity has kept the character (and Shaggy, Daphne, Fred, and Velma) in the hearts and minds of fans since his inception. With the way streaming is going (and with its ability to leave old cartoons behind without proper notice), one almost has to wonder if Scooby-Doo will remain popular among the next generation as he was in previous ones. The strangest part of all of this? The fall is the perfect time to revisit Scooby-Doo, so unless HBO Max has plans to bring him back in October, the whole thing feels like a massive oversight leading up to Halloween. Maybe that’s why Trick or Treat Scooby-Doo! was among the only productions left on the streamer, almost as a final peace offering until Mystery Inc. (hopefully) returns.
While most Scooby-Doo programs are no longer available on HBO Max, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? can be streamed for free on Tubi.
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