The Scooby-Doo franchise is once again being reinvented – this time with an animated series aimed towards adult audiences. This is evident in the new teaser trailer shared below for the upcoming series Velma. As one might imagine by the title, the new series is focused on the iconic Scooby-Doo character. Interestingly, however, they’ve taken the opportunity to diversify the iconic cast of characters. This includes Velma herself – who will now be played by none other than Mindy Kaling.
In addition to Mindy Kaling as Velma, it’s been noted via Variety that Sam Richardson will voice Shaggy, Constance Wu will voice Daphne, and Glenn Howerton will voice Fred. The cast for the series also includes Jane Lynch, Wanda Sykes, “Weird Al” Yankovic, Russell Peters, Melissa Fumero, Stephen Root, Gary Cole, Ming-Na Wen, Ken Leung, Cherry Jones, Frank Welker, Fortune Feimster, Yvonne Orji, Sarayu Blue, Nicole Byer, Shay Mitchell, Debby Ryan, Kulap Vilaysak and Karl-Anthony Towns.
Here’s the Velma teaser trailer for the upcoming HBO Max series:
https://youtu.be/lHdtsWn7sgE
This trailer certainly promises a new direction that will be unlike any previous Scooby-Doo incarnation. In its efforts to tell “the origin story of Velma Dinkley, the unsung and underappreciated brains of the Scooby-Doo Mystery Inc. gang,” it looks like fans can expect an “original and humorous spin.” Furthermore, we’ll get to see “the complex and colorful past of one of America’s most beloved mystery solvers.” We’ll likely see more footage from the upcoming series in the near future. As such, fans can stay tuned to ScreenGeek for updates as we have them.
The new Velma teaser comes not long after the newly-released film Trick or Treat Scooby-Doo! revealed its own version of Velma is a lesbian. It’s clear that Warner Bros Discovery is eagerly diversifying and modernizing its unique catalogue of characters. It’ll be interesting, then, to see what else comes of these developments in the future.
Velma will be available to stream via HBO Max next year in 2023.