Velma Actor Linda Cardellini: ‘It’s Great‘ Velma Is ’Finally‘ a Lesbian After It Was ‘Hinted at So Many Times’

Zack Sharf
·2 min read
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From one Velma to another, Linda Cardellini is celebrating the new “Scooby-Doo” animated movie, “Trick or Treat Scooby-Doo!,” for officially making the character a lesbian. Fans have long speculated that Velma was gay, but it wasn’t until the latest animated film that the character was seen explicitly crushing on another female character named Coco Diablo. The Mystery Inc. member has googly-eyes every time Coco comes around or is mentioned.

“Velma has been around since 1969,” Cardellini told Entertainment Weekly. “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. I think [her being a lesbian has] been hinted at so many times, and I think it’s great that it’s finally out there.”

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Cardellini starred as Velma in two live-action movies: 2002’s “Scooby-Doo” and 2004’s “Scooby-Doo: Monsters Unleashed.” Both films co-starred Matthew Lillard as Shaggy, Sarah Michelle Gellar as Daphne and Freddie Prince Jr. as Fred.

Would Cardellini return as Velma in a third “Scooby-Doo” movie? “Oh God, yeah!” she told Entertainment Weekly. “[But] I’m probably too old.”

Cardellini’s two live-action “Scooby-Doo” movies were written by James Gunn, best known today as the director behind Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” film trilogy and DC’s “The Suicide Squad” film and “Peacemaker” television series. Gunn revealed in 2020 that he wanted to make Cardellini’s live-action Velma explicitly gay in the live-action movies, but the studio didn’t let him.

“In 2001, Velma was explicitly gay in my initial script,” Gunn wrote on Twitter. “But the studio just kept watering it down and watering it down, becoming ambiguous (the version shot), then nothing (the released version) and finally having a boyfriend (the sequel).”

Cardellini is currently making the press rounds in support of the third and final season of Netflix’s dark comedy “Dead to Me,” which debuts Nov. 17 on the streaming platform.

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