Mindy Kaling is re-inventing Velma from Scooby-Doo in her new HBO Max series. Kaling is switching it up and having Velma portrayed by a girl of East Asian descent. Tom Ascheim, president of Warner Bros. Global Kids, Young Adults, and Classics, shared that this version of Velma is “not for children.”
Ascheim continued by saying that in Velma, “There’s no dog, and there’s no van, but we have our four key characters through a different lens. And I think it’s great.” He also mentions that the show will be set in a different world.
We’ll be seeing Velma Dinkley, Daphne Blake, Fred Jones, and Shaggy Rogers in a different light.
Of course, trolls on the internet have given their opinions on this topic:
The hashtag #NotMyVelma has already started trending.
Most are quick to point out that we genuinely don’t know that much about the character; all we know is that she’s a brainiac in glasses. Velma’s backstory is unknown, so who’s to say she couldn’t be of East Asian descent?
Others have brought up Hayley Kiyoko, who portrayed Velma in a live-action remake in 2010. Kiyoko’s is of Japanese ancestry, meaning that she has already displayed an ‘Asian Velma.’
Whenever a character’s race is changed from what was perceived as white, people have something to say about it. This year, the same situation happened when Disney announced their live-action Little Mermaid had Halle Bailey portraying the iconic Ariel (not that it’s the first time people were upset that Disney changed a character’s race).
People may never realize that when a character’s race has nothing to do with the storyline, it doesn’t matter. Velma’s backstory portrayed in an adult animation will be exciting no matter the tweaks Mindy Kaling decides to make.
So what do you think? Is it right to switch up a ‘classic’ character’s race? Are you excited about the Velma series? Let us know in the comments below!
