HBO Max has just released the official trailer forVelma, an all-new adult animated series reimagining the brainiest member of Mystery Inc., Velma Dinkley. The new trailer comes just ahead of the show’s arrival on streaming with its premiere scheduled for Jan. 12. Spanning two and a half minutes, the trailer lets viewers get to know the new Velma a bit better along with other reimagined members of Mystery Inc., sans a certain dog. Check out the trailer below, viaHBO Max on YouTube.
Velmais created by Charlie Grandy and executive produced by series star Mindy Kaling alongside Sam Grandy, Howard Klein, and Sam Register. Kaling provides the voice of Velma with the voice cast also featuring Sam Richardson as Norville “Shaggy” Rogers, Velma’s best friend who’s in love with her; Constance Wu as Daphne Blake, Velma’s former best friend who also has certain feelings for the titular mystery-solver; and Glenn Howerton as Fred Jones, whom Velma has a crush on. The voice cast also includes Russell Peters, Melissa Fumero, Jane Lynch, Wanda Sykes, Gary Cole, Ming-Na Wen, Shay Mitchell, Fortune Feimster, Stephen Root, “Weird Al” Yankovic, and originalScooby-Doovoice actor Frank Welker.
An official description ofVelmareads:
“The origin story of Velma Dinkley, the unsung and underappreciated brains of the Scooby-Doo Mystery Inc. gang. This original and humorous spin unmasks the complex and colorful past of one of America’s most beloved mystery solvers.”
Related:HBO Max’s Velma: Plot, Cast, and Everything Else We Know
Velma Omits Scooby-Doo
While some of these characters will have a new look, everyone from Mystery Inc. is present except for Scooby-Doo. The dogdoes not have a presencein the new series, and his absence was previously addressed by the show’s creators. At NYCC last year, they explained that this was due to two reasons: they couldn’t think of an appropriate way to include the cartoon pop in the mature series, and they apparently wouldn’t have been allowed to do so anyway.
“When we were going into the show, and thinking about adapting it, we wanted to be respectful,” a producer was quoted as saying. “We didn’t want to just kind of take these beloved characters and put them in outrageous or gross situations, and say like, ‘Isn’t it crazy we did that to Velma?’ So, when we were thinking about what made it a kids show, and what makes an adult show, the dog, Scooby, is what really seemed to… we couldn’t get a take on it that was like, ‘How can we kind of do this in a fun modern way?'”
It was added, “It felt like what made [the original version] a kids show was Scooby-Doo. That coincided with Warner Bros. Animation saying, ‘Hey, you’re able to’t use the dog.’ So we’re like, ‘Great! This works out well!'”
Velma and the gang will have to solve this mystery without Scooby-Doo. See how it turns out whenVelmapremieres for streaming on HBO Max on Jun 29, 2025.
