First Look: Mindy Kaling and Constance Wu Among Star-Studded Voice Cast for HBO Max’s ‘Velma’
Mindy Kaling and Constance Wu arrived at New York Comic Con on Thursday to talk about Velma, HBO Max’s new adult animated show based on the Scooby-Doo! Mystery Inc. character.
Per Variety, the logline describes the series as “the origin story of Velma Dinkley, the unsung and underappreciated brains of the Scooby-Doo! Mystery Inc. gang. This original and humorous spin unmasks the complex and colorful past of one of America’s most beloved mystery solvers.”
Kaling will voice Velma, and Wu will join her as the voice behind Daphne Blake. Rounding out the Mystery Inc. gang are Glenn Howerton as Fred Jones and Sam Richardson as Norville Rogers, better known as Shaggy. The beloved pooch, Scooby, is noticeably absent from this series as there was difficulty finding a take on the character in an adult show, according to the Variety article.
People reported that The Mindy Project creator was drawn to this character because of the journey of self-discovery Velma will go through, including addressing “unresolved sexual tension with a lot of characters.”
Responding to some backlash that Velma is of South Asian descent in this show, Kaling responded in May during upfront week, “No one’s imaginations ever had a problem with a talking dog solving mysteries, so I think we can handle a brown Velma” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Other stars set to join the voice cast are 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.
The show’s first season will consist of 10 episodes, which Kaling is also executive producing with Charlie Grandy, Howard Klein, and Sam Register. It will premiere in 2023.
