HBO Max’s “Velma” isn’t your average Scooby-Doo show – and not just because there’s literally no Scooby-Doo in it. In the new animated series, the world of Mystery Inc. gets an adult twist with Mindy Kaling, Sam Richardson, Glenn Howerton, and Constance Wu voicing the roles of the titular Velma Dinkley, Norville “Shaggy” Rogers, Fred Jones, and Daphne Blake, respectively.
The series was developed by Charlie Grandy with Kaling onboard as an executive producer. The show’s first two episodes, which dropped on Jan. 12, feature some jokes about the show’s more adult tone and even some nudity. But the biggest change to the beloved mystery-solvers cartoon comes at the end of “Velma”‘s second episode – when Daphne kisses Velma!
Here’s how it happens: The show’s plot follows Velma, who loves solving mysteries because her mom was a mystery writer. However, her mother went missing years back, and whenever she tries to solve a mystery now, she has terrifying, debilitating panic attacks. On top of that, Daphne and Velma used to be friends but had a dramatic falling out. In the first two episodes, some girls at school are murdered and Fred is the number one suspect. But when Velma starts to investigate, those pesky panic attacks get in her way.
At the end of episode two, Velma has another panic attack when Daphne gives her some info about her mom’s disappearance, and the latter can’t figure out a way for her to snap out of it – so she kisses her. Velma’s panic attack ends and soothing music plays. Daphne then asks if it worked and Velma says it did, so they kiss some more while a heartbroken Shaggy watches from afar.
It’s not clear yet where the relationship between Daphne and Velma will go from here, but it seems that a romantic component will definitely be some part of it. This is pretty huge for the world of Scooby-Doo, as the cartoon has been long held as a childhood classic. Many fans have been interpreting Velma as queer for years, and 2022’s “Trick or Treat Scooby-Doo!” makes this canon, with Velma developing a crush on a woman she meets. Many fans celebrated the moment as it was the first time the character was canonically queer.
However, that special didn’t include any implications about Daphne, who many fans have also viewed as queer for years. James Gunn even revealed in 2020 that in his original script for 2002’s live-action “Scooby-Doo: The Movie” (which stars Sarah Michelle Gellar as Daphne and Linda Cardellini as Velma), Velma was portrayed as gay and she and Daphne kissed.
Daphne and Velma kissing in “Velma” is huge for both characters and will likely make some fans very, very happy. Long live these mystery-solving, proud queer icons.