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Scooby Doo’s Linda Cardellini on lesbian Velma: ‘it’s great’

"I think it's been hinted at so many times"

By Alastair James

Linda Cardellini
Linda Cardellini at South by Southwest 2019 (Image: Wiki Commons)

As if we couldn’t love Linda Cardellini anymore, we do after she expressed her thoughts on Scooby Doo’s Velma being confirmed to be a lesbian.

Fans rejoiced when it was confirmed in the new animated movie, Trick or Treat Scooby-Doo! Velma crushes on costume designer Coco Diablo.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly recently Linda said she loved that people still dressed up as Velma for Halloween.

“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.

On Velma’s confirmed sexuality Linda says, “And I love — you know, I think it’s been hinted at so many times, and I think it’s great that it’s finally out there.”

Asked whether we could ever see Cardellini reprise her role from the noughties films she replies, “Oh God, yeah!” before adding, “I’m probably too old.”

Linda famously played Velma in 2002’s Scooby-Doo and the 2004 sequel Monsters Unleashed.

Guardians of the Galaxy filmmaker James Gunn revealed in 2020 that he wrote an “explicitly gay” Velma in the script for the 2002 live-action movie before the character’s sexuality was “watered down” by the studio.

He said, “the studio just kept watering it down and watering it down, becoming ambiguous (in the version shot), then nothing (in the released version) and finally having a boyfriend (the sequel).”

Trick or Treat Scooby-Doo! is available to stream on Prime Video and HBO Max.