Mindy Kaling Is The New Velma In Adult Scooby-Doo Reboot Series

Mindy Kaling is the new Velma in town. At Warner Brothers. At Wednesday’s Discovery Upfront presentation, Kaling addressed Velma, an animated Scooby-Doo reboot. Among the backlash generated by the series, Kaling pointed out that some Scooby-Doo fans complained about the change in Velma’s skin color, which is traditionally white.

According to Deadline, Kaling said, “I hope you noticed Velma is South Asian.” “If people freak out about that, I don’t care.”

Mindy Kaling And Velma

A first look at Velma was also revealed by Kaling, and it isn’t your average Scooby-Doo cartoon. Kaling has clearly followed through with her promise that this reboot will be for adults, as the photo shows a murder victim who has apparently been deprived of her brains. Kaling’s South Asian Velma stands in the center as a group of terrified women, one completely naked, stands behind her.

Velma was first announced by Mindy Kaling in February 2021. Kaling executive produces the series as well as voices Velma, the titular sleuth. Howard Klein, Charlie Grandy, and Sam Register executive produce as well.

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It’s nothing new to see a reimagined version of the classic character, even if there were complaints on social media about the changes in the new Velma series. Various versions of Velma have appeared in live-action and animation, but Kaling will be the first to introduce a South Asian interpretation. Kaling’s Velma is also very recognizable as the character Scooby-Doo fans know and love from her trademark glasses to her love of orange clothing despite the change in skin color.

In a previous appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers, Kaling discussed the backlash. After it was revealed that this Velma was of South Asian descent, the fans seemed fully on board with her reboot. As people expressed their complaints all over social media, she noticed a change in the fan reception.

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“When it was announced that I was going to do the voice of Velma, people were very supportive and happy on Twitter,” Kaling explained. “So, I felt great, because these are really intense fans, you know? And especially [for] a legacy show like this. So it’s like, ‘Oh, this is great!'”

She added, “Then, it was announced about a month ago that the Velma character would be reimagined as South Asian. And people were not happy. There was a lot of, like, ‘So not Velma!’ Those kinds of tweets. ‘Not the classic Velma that I’m always thinking about!’ I just really didn’t know that she elicited such strong reactions, in either direction.”

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“She’s such a great character, she’s so smart, and I just couldn’t understand how people couldn’t imagine a really smart nerdy girl with terrible eyesight who loved to solve mysteries could not be Indian,” Kaling went on to note. “Like, there are Indian nerds. It shouldn’t be a surprise to people, but people are like, ‘No, no, no.’ By the way, this is a small percentage of people, but it really made me think, ‘Okay, we’ve got to be really careful with this character.’ Which we will be, because we love her, and we’ll have great adventures.”

Velma doesn’t yet have an official premiere date set for HBO Max.

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