Jinkies! The trailer for HBO’s Velma series just dropped and mystery isn’t Dinkley’s only mistress. In October of last year, after what seemed to be an eternity, Velma Dinkley was confirmed to be canonically queer in the VOD animated film Trick or Treat, Scooby-Doo! In a short snippet, Velma meets fashion designer Coco Diablo and instantly falls head over heels. While it isn’t the first indication Scooby-Doo fans have ever had that Velma is gay, the interaction still well and truly cemented the fact for all the naysayers out there. Now, Velma isn’t just a member of the LGBTQ+ community, she’s also a POC, as shown in HBO’s new spin-off solo series. They’re scoring brownie points on the representation front, that’s certain enough.
Marketed as an adult animated comedy series, Velma isn’t your average Scooby-Doo spin-off. It focuses on the brains of Mystery Inc. and navigates her origins as an amateur sleuth before meeting the gang. Mindy Kaling voices Velma, joined by Sam Richardson as Norville “Shaggy” Rogers, Glenn Howerton as Fred Jones, and Constance Wu as Daphne. Speaking of Daphne, although the duo seems to be at odds with one another originally, there’s obvious sparks flying when they touch hands in the hallway of their high school. In fact, the moment is emphasized with shimmering sparkles and some ethereal music, bathed in pink lighting reminiscent of scene straight from a romance anime.
It doesn’t take Mystery Inc. to deduce that Daphne and Velma have some strong feelings for one another, whether that’s explored in a purely platonic sense or not. Somehow, we don’t think their romance will stop there. It’s been common knowledge for years — ever since Scooby-Doo, Where are You! premiered in 1969 (alright, maybe not that long) — that Scooby-Doo fans have been ‘shipping’ Velma and Daphne together. Just when we thought the LGBTQ+ community couldn’t be affirmed anymore, Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated producer Tony Cervone confirmed (as per Elite Daily) that Dinkley was in fact created as a gay woman. Furthermore, but it doesn’t stop there. Famed filmmaker James Gunn, who wrote the live-action Scooby-Doo movies (2002 and 2004) tweeted in 2020 (as per Variety) that Velma was “explicitly gay” in a 2001 script. Gunn even mentioned that Warner Bros. was the one who stripped these details from the first movie and even gave Velma a boyfriend (Seth Green’s Patrick Wisely) in the sequel.
Velma premieres January 12, 2023, and after years of queer-bait content, it’s finally going to be really, really gay.