KUALA LUMPUR, October 7 — Scooby Doo’s Velma will be a South Asian teenager in a new series starring Inside Out’s Mindy Kaling.
During a New York Comic Con panel yesterday, HBO unveiled a new adult animated series retelling the origin of the now lesbian sleuth and how she met the Mystery Inc. gang.
Starring alongside Kaling will be Crazy Rich Asians Constance Wu as Daphne, Glenn Howerton as Fred and Sam Richardson as Norville aka an African American Shaggy.
Also lending their voices will be Weird Al Yankovic, Ming-Ma Wen, and Melissa Fumero in recurring roles.
Kaling related to Velma growing up, saying that she ‘couldn’t resist voicing her’ because she jokingly had the voice of a 15-year-old.
Don’t expect the family-friendly fun of Scooby-Doo as Velma aims to be ‘gory and sexy’ in line with HBO Max’s other adult animated series Harley Quinn and Rick and Morty.
“This version of Velma just hasn’t been done before,” Kaling said at the NYCC panel.
“We thought these characters lend themselves so well to an adult version.”
The teaser portrays Velma as a pop-culture-obsessed keyboard warrior, poking fun at online hate of reinterpreting classic characters.
She writes a warning email to executives who are trying to make a Judy Jetson spin-off series before a killer calls her phone in a nod to Scream.
“That’s my point, why change anything when the classics still work right?” Velma says to her killer on the phone.
“Well, at least Judy’s still white.”
The series will follow Velma’s early crime-solving adventures with the Mystery Inc. gang as they navigate through the struggles of high school.
Velma is expected to premiere on HBO Max in 2023.
