Linda Cardellini says it’s been hinted Velma was gay for ages – NME
Scooby-Doo star Linda Cardellini says Velma’s sexuality has been “hinted” at numerous times.
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Cardellini played the bespectacled Mystery Inc. sleuth in the 2002 and 2004 live-action films. Responding to the recent confirmation of Velma being queer, the Dead To Me actor said she wasn’t surprised at all. “You know, I think it’s been hinted at so many times,” she told Entertainment Weekly. “And, I think it’s great that it’s finally out there.”
Speaking about her love of the character’s enduring appeal to many, Cardellini added: “Velma has been around since 1969; I just went trick or treating with my daughter and there were a lot of Velmas out there, so I love that she still has this place in culture that is sort of always active for decades.”
Asked if she’d ever play the sleuth again, she responded with a resounding “Oh God, yeah!” However, the actor did also say she was “probably too old”.
Velma became headline news around the world last month when it the character’s sexuality was made canon. A sequence in the new animated movie Trick or Treat Scooby Doo saw her swoon romantically over a costume designer, Coco Diablo. This scene confirmed years of hints that Velma was gay from other versions of Scooby-Doo.
James Gunn, who penned the script for both live-action films, had previously revealed in 2020 that he tried to make Velma gay. However, he said the scenes depicting her queer relationship were removed from the final cuts of those films – in which Linda Cardellini starred.
“In 2001 Velma was explicitly gay in my initial script,” Gunn tweeted at the time. “But the studio just kept watering it down & watering it down, becoming ambiguous (the version shot), then nothing (the released version) & finally having a boyfriend (the sequel).”
In 2020, Tony Cervone, the supervising producer of the Mystery Incorporated series, confirmed that the character was gay and not bisexual; hence, why she felt uncomfortable dating Shaggy.