HBO Max’s “Velma” is the latest incarnation of the “Scooby-Doo” mythology. And this version is very different.
Instead of your usual Saturday morning fare, “Velma” is a hard-R animated series strictly for adults. Velma (Mindy Kaling) is the main character, a teenage girl whose mother has disappeared and whose friendship with Daphne (Constance Wu) is strained at best. Fred (Glenn Howerton) is a toxic man-child and Shaggy goes by Norville (Sam Richardson), is in love with Velma and, most surprisingly of all, doesn’t smoke.
TheWrap spoke to Richardson and Howerton about what it was like to reinvent these classic characters, what new element of these characters they’re most excited about and how familiar they were with the world of “Scooby-Doo” before signing on to “Velma.” Plus Richardson recounts getting the seal of approval from former Shaggy (in live-action and animation) Matthew Lillard.
What was your level of “Scooby-Doo” fandom pre-“Velma”?
Sam Richardson: Pretty big. I’ve watched all iterations of “Scooby-Doo,” from “Scooby-Doo” to “What’s New Scooby-Doo” to “A Pup Named Scooby-Doo,” to all the “Scooby-Doo” movies. I’m a big fan of Mystery Inc. Even the newer shows from the past 10 years that have come out. I was excited to get to be a part of this, which is so different from even all of those things.
Glenn Howerton: I would say most of what I know about “Scooby-Doo” is from the original cartoon. I was watching it, I was about to say from the ’80s, but it wasn’t from the ’80s, was it?
Richardson: From the ’70s.
Howerton: Seventies, yeah. I’d say that that’s where my knowledge of the show comes from. That’s what I think of. Although I did watch a lot of those other ones still. I watched “A Pup Named Scooby-Doo.” I watched all the cartoon ones that were around when I was a kid. I was super into it for sure.
How was the show pitched to you? Obviously “it’s an R-rated ‘Scooby-Doo’” is a pretty good logline.
Howerton: Well, they didn’t tell us. I didn’t know it was going to be an adult animated show. When I found out about it, it came to me as they were offering me the role and I was like, Oh my gosh, this is amazing. I’m finally doing a show that I can watch with my kids and my kids can be like, “My dad’s on TV.” And it was “Scooby-Doo,” an iconic character, so I was super excited about it. When I read the script, I was like, “Oh, no. My kids can’t watch this.” I was like, “This is…wow.” I loved it but I was not expecting that when I read the script.
Richardson: Yeah. Same. I knew it was an adult take and that I’d be Norville. And I was like, “Oh yeah, sure.” Me thinking adult take meant that there were adults. But then reading the script, “Oh yeah, OK.” This is right out the gates, really, but so funny. I didn’t know what to expect. And then reading a script, I really loved them so much and really loved what they did and what they were doing. Just the idea of where it was going, I was on board.
Sam, I wanted to ask you, how much did it mean to get the Matthew Lillard seal of approval?
Richardson: I know. Big deal. Big deal.
Howerton: I don’t know about this. What happened?
Richardson: Yeah. He’s such a cool dude. When they announced the breakdown of the characters, a lot of people, believe it or not, had a problem with there being a Black Shaggy. But really they’d probably be like, why aren’t the old voices the same? But they’re different. We’re different. It’s all different. Matthew Lillard said, “Oh, he’ll be a great Shaggy.” He tweeted it out. It was really nice. He didn’t have to do that. But I really appreciate it.
Howerton: I didn’t hear about that.
Because I think he was more skeptical of the “Scoob” Shaggy (voiced by Will Forte).
Richardson: Yes. I think so.
This is a huge reinvention and there’s so much more to both of your characters in this one. What is your favorite new aspect of the characters?
Howerton: For me personally, the thing I really kind of latched onto was this thing that I was feeling from the script that he was the classic popular kid who was kind of a bully, but what made this different was that he didn’t seem to know that he was a bully at all. There was an innocence there. I’ve been describing him as the innocent bully. A bully who has no idea that the things that he’s saying are extremely rude and mean and potentially offensive. And also obviously, he’s the embodiment of entitlement. And so those were the characteristics that I latched onto that I had a lot of fun with. And I was like, OK, what is the vocal manifestation of that? That was the most fun for me.
Richardson: New aspect of the character, yes. It’s the fact that he’s a confident nerd. I really appreciate that he is not a fully bullied nerd but he’s gotten this confidence in this level of maturity, but then immaturity here and there and his selfishness. I really appreciate that. And how he gets from here to there. I’m very curious to see how that plays out and his sobriety. He’s a sober Shaggy.
“Velma” is streaming on HBO Max right now.
