Actor Matthew Lillard first brought the character of Shaggy to life in the live-action Scooby Doo film released in 2002. He so perfectly encapsulated the character and the role that he was invited back for the sequel in 2004, and has gone on to play/voice the character in 35 different Scooby-Doo movies, TV series, and video games over the last 17 years.

In 2019, Warner Bros arbitrarily decided to replace Lillard with Will Forte, an actor and comedian best known for his work on Saturday Night Live as Macgruber. This is a huge slap in the face to Lillard and what he has done with Shaggy over the last near two decades. According to reports from websites like comicbook.com, Lillard was not even told that he was being replaced, making it even more of a backstab on the part of Warner Brothers.

At this point, the character of Shaggy Rogers is synonymous with actor Matthew Lillard, to the point that many people who grew up on the newer version of the character knows Lillard from nothing else. He has played the character more times than any other actor aside from original voice actor Casey Kasem, and he should be given the opportunity to continue with this role in what will become the first feature length animated Scooby-Doo cartoon to ever play theatrically. 

Is this change petition important in the grand scheme of things? Is Matthew Lillard going to go hungry if he doesn't get this role? Will the world end if Shaggy sounds "different?" Of course not. But these petitions have made an impact on our favorite entertainment franchises in the past, and if fans of Lillard and his version - currently the definitive version of Shaggy - band together, we can keep the "real" Shaggy.