Velma Dinkley is finally depicted as a lesbian in the upcoming film Trick Or Treat Scooby-Doo!. It’s something that other writers have attempted to show in a more direct way, but for one reason or another, has never panned out. In the case of the James Gunn Scooby-Doo movies from the early 2000s, it came down to studio interference.
Tony Cervone, a supervising producer on Mystery Incorporated, also spoke a little bit about his own attempts at depicting the character as a lesbian (via Variety). While it might not necessarily be incredibly obvious if the viewer isn’t looking for it, the intention behind her characterization was to imply heavily that she was a lesbian. He said:
I’ve said this before, but Velma in ‘Mystery Incorporated’ is not bi. She’s gay. We always planned on Velma acting a little off and out of character when she was dating Shaggy because that relationship was wrong for her and she had unspoken difficulty with the why. There are hints about the why in that episode with the mermaid, and if you follow the entire Marcie arc it seems as clear as we could make it 10 years ago. I don’t think Marcie and Velma had time to act on their feelings during the main timeline, but post reset, they are a couple. You can not like it, but this was our intention.
James Gunn’s Scooby-Doo and Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed were initially meant to feature an explicitly lesbian Velma but through a series of orders from the higher-ups at the studio, we ended up with a Velma who was pretty ambiguous, even having a boyfriend in the sequel.
In Trick Or Treat Scooby-Doo, Velma has a number of interactions with a famous fashion designer by the name of Coco Diablo. Upon first seeing her, Velma’s cheeks turn red, her glasses fog up, and she says her catchphrase, “Jinkies!” In a later scene, Diablo calls her “the cute one” and Velma’s face gets a little twisted up at the compliment.
Trick Or Treat Scooby-Doo! was released digitally on October 4.
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