Despite HBO Max and its parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, just killing children’s and mature animation left and right, the company is seeking to expand existing properties that it does care about and especially in the realm of adult animation. When I say mature, I’m talking about like Infinity Train and adult animation being like adults-only, a.k.a. Harley Quinn: The Animated Series and stuff that might appear on Adult Swim. One newcomer to look forward to is the upcoming show Velma.
Co-produced by Mindy Kaling, this show is an adult take on a Mystery Gang origin story and specifically Velma herself. It’s expected to be 10 episodes in its first season and stream directly on HBO Max.
Who’s in the Velma cast?
At the 2022 Warner Bros. Discovery Upfront, footage and details of the show were shared. This showcase confirmed that in addition to co-producing, Mindy Kaling was voicing Velma. This casting makes Kaling the first South Asian and third woman of color (the others being Hayley Kiyoko and Gina Rodriguez) to play the lovable heroine. However, very little of the cast was known until recently.
At the 2022 New York Comic-Con, the studio announced the main players of the mystery gang besides Velma! Constance Wu (Crazy Rich Asians) is playing Daphne, Glenn Howerton (It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia) is playing Fred, and Sam Richardson (Veep, Ted Lasso) is playing Shaggy (but is being referred to by his birth name Norville)! This means that the image of the decapitated head in the girls’ shower room did feature Daphne standing right behind Velma!
The parents are played by Saray Blue (Velma’s mom), Russel Peters (Velma’s dad), Melissa Fumero (Velma’s dad’s girlfriend), Jane Lynch (one of Daphne’s moms), Wanda Sykes (Daphne’s other mom), Cherry Jones (Fred’s mom), and Nicole Byer (Norville’s mom). Also, voice-acting legend Frank Welker is also in the cast! Welker played Fred for so many years, and now he’s playing his dad!
Additionally, Stephen Root (the sheriff), Ken Leung, Gary Cole (a therapist), Ming-Na Wen, Fortune Feimster, Yvonne Orji, Kulap Vilaysak, Debby Ryan, Shay Mitchell, Karl-Anthony Towns (a jock), and “Weird Al” Yankovic (as a tuba player). The Velma The Series Twitter account gave many of these cast members’ character names, but couldn’t say more because of SPOILERS!
When does Velma come out on HBO Max?
Technically, Velma came out on October 16 in the 2022 animated film Trick or Treat Scooby-Doo! This, of course, came after decades of hints, speculation, and creatives, like James Gunn, saying they tried but had to bow to studio pressure. If you’re wondering when this adult-animation version of Velma releases, that’s January 12, 2023. Luckily it’s coming before the Discovery-HBO hybrid app discussed in the misogynistic Q2 shareholders call earlier in 2022 and later lampooned by the Amazon-owned show The Boys. I just want to see my favorite turtleneck-wearing sleuth.
Editor’s note: Originally published on October 6. 2022, and this has since been updated with new information.
(featured image: HBO Max)
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