HBO Max has unveiled the first official poster for Velma, its upcoming Mindy Kaling-led animated series that puts an adult-oriented spin on the Scooby-Doo franchise.While the poster doesn't show much, it does speak to Velma's violent tone, featuring an up-close look at the title character's signature glasses, which are sitting on the floor and covered with blood. "It's the mystery before the Inc.," the tagline reads. The release of the poster comes ahead of the official Velma panel at New York Comic Con 2022.
HBO Max's Velma Is Not for Kids
In February 2021, HBO Max gave a straight-to-series order to Velma, an adult-oriented Scooby-Doo spinoff series starring Kaling (The Office, The Mindy Project) as the voice of Mystery Inc.'s resident bookworm, Velma Dinkley. HBO Max's Velma re-imagines its title character as being of South Asian descent, and serves to tell her origin story -- prior to her globetrotting adventures with Fred, Daphne, Shaggy and Scooby.
"Velma is an adult animated comedy series telling the origin story of Velma Dinkley, the unsung and underappreciated brains of the Scooby-Doo Mystery Inc. gang," an official synopsis for the show reads. "An original and humorous spin that unmasks the complex and colorful past of one of America's most beloved mystery solvers, executive producer Mindy Kaling will voice the titular character. Charlie Grandy, Howard Klein and Sam Register also serve as executive producers. Velma is produced by Warner Bros. Animation."
Kaling herself debuted the first official images from Velma at Warner Bros. Discovery's upfronts event this past May, showing just how gruesome the show will get with the type of mysteries Velma will be solving. In an image shared online, Velma and a group of bystanders are seen looking over the body of a girl whose head had been hollowed out.
"And while we're on the topic of fresh, female-forward shows, I am beyond excited to share with you these images from my new animated adult comedy Velma, which is based on the beloved character from Scooby-Doo," Kaling said at the time. "Getting to voice this iconic character in her first ever origin story is a dream come true... And also you've hopefully noticed by now my Velma is South Asian. And if people freak out about that, I don't care. No one's imaginations ever had a problem with a talking dog solving mysteries. So a brown Velma is fine. I think we can all handle it. In any case, you won't want to miss this..."
Velma is slated to stream on HBO Max, though does not yet have a premiere date.
Source: Twitter