Mindy Kaling to Star as Velma in ‘Scooby-Doo’ Spinoff at HBO Max

Former The Office star Mindy Kaling was cast as Velma in a new animated Scooby-Doo spin-off that will be available exclusively on the HBO Max streaming platform. After the news broke, Kaling had the perfect clap-back for a fan who did not like this news, pointing out that the GIF the user shared was from an Office episode she wrote. The new Velma series was given a series order last week.

Velma will share the origin story for the “unsung and underappreciated brains” of the Mystery Machine gang, notes The Hollywood Reporter. The show is described as an “original and humorous spin that unmasks the complex and colorful past of one of America’s most beloved mystery solvers.” Kaling will also serve as an executive producer on the series.

The Mindy Project star is the latest actress to voice Velma, following Kate Micucci in several recent Scooby shows and Jane the Virgin star Gina Rodriguez in the 2020 movie Scoob!. Linda Cardellini played Velma in the 2002 and 2004 live-action movies, while Hayley Kiyoko played Velma in 2009’s Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins and 2010’s Scooby-Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster. Sarah Gilman also played Velma in the 2018 movie Daphne & Velma.

Kaling’s casting led to a viral moment on Twitter Wednesday. After the page Discussing Film shared the news, someone responded with just a GIF of Michael Scott (Steve Carell) yelling, “No!” in an episode of The Office. “I wrote the episode of The Office this GIF is from,” Kaling wrote. The scene was in the Season 5 episode “Frame Toby.” The person who tweeted the GIF later deleted the tweet.

Velma will be executive produced by Kaling with her frequent collaborator Charlie Grandy, and Howard Klein and Sam Register of 3 Arts. It is one of three new animated projects HBO Max announced last week. Phil Lord, Chris Miller, Bill Lawrence, and Erica Rivinoja are working on a revival of Clone High, which originally aired on MTV in 2002 and 2003. Fired on Mars is a workplace comedy based on an animated short by Nate Sherman and Nick Voley set at a tech company’s Martian campus. Saturday Night Live star Pete Davidson will lead the voice cast and is an executive producer.

“It is a tremendous privilege to build on the 100-year plus legacy of ‘cartoons’ at this company,” HBO Max executive vice president of comedy and adult animation Suzanna Makkos said in a statement. “We can draw a straight line from our hundreds of childhood hours spent watching Bugs outwit Elmer to the current slate of adult animated projects we are building here at HBO Max and we think fans will agree. We are proud to introduce this distinctive group of series from a wide range of diverse creators that will form a first stop destination for animation lovers everywhere.”