It’s time for a queer actor to play Scooby-Doo’s Velma. (Getty/Canva/Warner Bros)
If reports are correct, there’s a Scooby-Doo live-action remake in the works at Netflix. Consider this our official petition for a queer actor to play lesbian legend Velma.
According to Variety, the live action Scooby-Doo reboot will be a based on the much-loved animated series, although plot details are still secret.
Ever since the cartoon’s debut in 1969, it’s been something of a surprising sexual awakening for queer women. That’s largely thanks to the glamorous purple princess Daphne Blake (particularly Sarah Michelle Gellar’s take in the 2002 movie Scooby-Doo), and all-round genius Velma Dinkley (Linda Cardellini in that red latex suit was a revelation).
For decades, Velma has been put on a pedestal and read as a lesbian icon by queer women. In recent years, there has been vindication for that speculation: in both the 2022 animated film, Trick or Treat Scooby-Doo, and Mindy Kaling’s opinion-dividing 2023 TV series Velma, the whip-smart sleuth was portrayed as a queer woman.
Now, there’s an opportunity to make Velma a lesbian in a live-action version of the spooky adventure series – and to feature a queer actor in the role.
It’s entirely likely, as well: the new show will reportedly be produced by gay screenwriter Greg Berlanti, known for his work on LGBTQ+-tinted TV shows and films, including Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed, The Broken Hearts Club, Red, White & Royal Blue, Love, Simon and new, very queer hit, Dead Boy Detectives.
While no cast is likely to reach the generation-defining heights of the 2002 and 2004 films, here are five queer women and non-binary stars we’d love to see play Velma.
Katy O’Brian
Fresh from her biggest role to date, in Kristen Stewart’s brutal sapphic bodybuilding thriller Love Lies Bleeding, Katy O’Brian would be a pretty solid pick for Velma.
Her star has continued to rise in recent years, following appearances across huge TV shows from The Walking Dead to The Mandalorian, but the next 12 months or so could be even bigger for her: she’s due to star alongside Hannah Waddingham, Nick Offerman and Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two, billed as the final film in the hit franchise.
While Velma is more brains than brawn, it would be an interesting career move for the star.
Emma Corrin
Golden-Globe-winning Emma Corrin knows how to play a cool, calm and collected amateur detective: last year, the My Policeman star had the lead role in new Disney+ thriller, A Murder at the End of the World. Tackling Velma would be a stroll in the park.
Plus, Corrin, also seen in The Crown and set to appear in Deadpool & Wolverine, seems to embody some of Velma’s very best traits: they’re confident and content with who they are, plus incredibly intelligent, being a Cambridge graduate who has studied Shakespeare intently.
Jasmin Savoy Brown
Scream queen and queer actress Jasmin Savoy Brown might be looking to book her next project, considering season three of Yellowjackets – in which she will reprise the role of teen Taissa Turner – has been delayed by last year’s Hollywood strikes. Plus, her participation in Scream 7 is currently unconfirmed, despite her star turn as Mindy Meeks-Martin in the past two films in the franchise.
Filling her calendar isn’t the only reason we want to see Brown as Velma. It’s clear she thrives in the spooky mystery genre. If you connect the dots, it makes perfect sense.
Lili Reinhart
If you think about it, bisexual actress Lili Reinhart is perfect for the mystery genre, considering her seven-year tenure as highly intelligent FBI agent Betty Cooper in Riverdale, which ended last year. Get her on the first plane out and strapped into The Mystery Machine.
Ayo Edebiri
It’s a fact that Scooby-Doo is a comedy adventure series rather than simply a ghostly one, and The Bear star Ayo Edebiri is a comedy pro, whether that’s while portraying a high school lesbian loser in Bottoms, or when answering press questions at award shows.
Velma can be seen as the uptight one in the gang, and Edebiri, who’s voiced characters in Clone High and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, might loosen her up a bit.