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Velma "Not Erasing the Originals": Series Creator to Scooby-Doo Fans

Velma series creator Charlie Grandy responded to Scooby-Doo fans who criticized the series for offering a different take on the characters.

To say that folks had opinions on Charlie Grandy, Mindy Kaling, and Warner Bros. Animation's Velma would be a huge understatement to kick off this article with if we're being honest. Personally, we loved it – as did a whole lot of other folks based on the streaming numbers and how soon work (unofficially) began on a second season. But that doesn't mean that there wasn't a very vocal group of Scooby-Doo "purists" (we'll go with that) who viewed the series as sacrilege and somehow a slight on the original series they've grown to love over the years. Now, we shared our thoughts on some of the gatekeeping going on – but we would rather hear from series creator Grandy, who shared their thoughts on the matter with Emmys magazine.

"The original Hanna-Barbera shows are still out there to watch. We are not erasing the originals. We just want to be a little ice planet on the outer regions of the Scooby-verse!" Grandy shared, making the logical case that both can exist at the same time and the world will still continue to turn. "Mindy [Kaling] came to me and said she'd love to work on a story with Velma…She loved the character and thought it would be funny to have her at the center of a show. We asked ourselves, 'Why stop [at Velma being South Asian]?' None of these characters are rooted to being white. We were worried about going to Warner Bros. and asking them to do it, but they said, 'Do it. It's time! Just make sure it's funny and good!'"

During an interview/profile with Deadline Hollywood from February, Channing Dungey, Chairman & CEO, Warner Bros. Television Group, offered a rundown regarding what WBTV had coming up. And that's where we saw this: "…Dungey's team is working on a second season of Scooby-Doo spinoff 'Velma,' an adult animated comedy that comes from Mindy Kaling and Charlie Grandy that was the streamer's most-watched animated series debut ever…" Joining Kaling in the main voice cast is Sam Richardson as Shaggy, Constance Wu as Daphne, and Glenn Howerton as Fred. 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 also lend their voices. Kaling and showrunner Charlie Grandy will executive produce alongside Howard Klein and Sam Register.

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