Mindy Kaling reimagined a movie, but she wasn’t allowed to use Scooby-Doo

Scream “junk!” Placing the Square Cups: From Warner Bros. Animation, film An animated comedy series revealing the origin story of Velma Dinkley, the orange turtleneck minds of the Scooby-Doo Mystery gang, Inc. In a departure from family friendly Scooby Doo franchise business, film It is an adult oriented show (see poster with bloodstained glasses), with Rick and Morty And the Harley Quinn Cited as the main inspiration.

executive producer Mindy Kaling, who also voices Velma; Show Director Charlie Grande; Constance Wu (Daphne); Sam Richardson (Norville, who would be known as “Shaggy”); Glenn Horton (Fred) joined fans at New York Comic Con 2022 to explain the new direction of the long-running horror comedy series. Fans in attendance also got a sneak peek at the show as the entire pilot episode premiered.

The show features a film in her high school years as a bespectacled loser. If no cockroaches gather in the opening scene filmThe tone of the following scene should do the trick: naked tweens engaging in physical violence in gym bathrooms (all while discussing moral propriety and exploiting blatant nudity in the media). Later, the body of a teenage girl is found in Velma’s locker, making her the prime suspect in the eyes of two cops (Wanda Sykes and Jane Lynch). Of course, she has to solve the mystery to clear her name. One problem: Velma hasn’t really solved the mystery in a while, not since her mysterious novelist mother disappeared from her life. Whenever Velma tries to solve a mystery, she is harassed by zombie-like spirits.

This preview also reimagines the crew of Mystery Inc as high school students. The popular girl Daphne is the antithesis of Velma. She’s a mean cartoon girl, Grande said, and she’s also the smartest pop-culture clever of the bunch. Kaling added, “Daphne has her own secrets about her life.”

Velma and Daphne begin the series with an intense hatred of each other, as they were former childhood friends. When developing the series, Kaling (who also co-created teen-centric Netflix I never did before) brought her love for high school performances that explored ‘people from different social classes find'[ing] something familiar.” film It is a high school show, “so we can watch all the high school events and dances in addition to it being a murder mystery.”

No one involved in HBO Max or the Scooby franchise has rejected the wildest, most outlandish direction the team wanted to take with the infamous mystery gang, according to Grande. Warner Brothers confirmed. Support: “They said, ‘Wow, have fun. “

Biggest revelation? The film The pilot does not insinuate that Norville has a dog. Think Gotham And his apparent absence from Batman. Grande addressed the brown-spotted Great Dane (Les) in the room by explaining that the team had thought carefully about what they could do to differentiate film As an adult show. “What made Scooby Doo “The kids’ show, Scooby-Doo,” Grande said. “we Not possible Take it, like How to do it in a fun and modern way. [Our efforts] Coincided with animation from Warner Bros. She says we can’t use the dog! For Grande, deleting the iconic Great Dane brings out an adult tone Velma – Although who knows what will happen along the series’ sequential journey.

Since the origin Scooby-doo where are you! Velma and the gang debuted in 1969 on CBS, and they have survived many iterations, from animation to live-action films to video games. Just this week, Velma made news when the latest live-to-video animated movie (finally) confirmed it could crush gays.

The recent depiction of Velma’s gay identity (after decades of obscurity and James Gunn’s failed attempt to assert her sexuality) seemed to be on the medium’s mind when he asked, “Is there a Velma and Daphne moment?” Romantic charging tip and waking the crowd to cheers.

Kaling replied,[Velma] He has sexual tension with Much From the characters.” Velma really comes face-to-face with Daphne at one point in the pilot, and she finds the arrogant Fred disturbingly sexy. “We were drawn to this journey of self-discovery for her,” Kaling said. “We wanted to honor other interpretations and do what’s modern. “

Velma’s only high school friend is Shaggy – the correct name is Norville – who turns out to be even softer. The pilot says Shaggy “absolutely doesn’t like drugs”. Telling jokes—in fact only honestly admitting his crush on Velma—plays a role in rescuing the mystery-solving heroine later in the pilot. So how does shaggy grow into a “burnout” later in the canon? Grande promised, “You’ll see the character’s evolution.”

filmThe creators have reimagined the character as being of South Asian descent, like Kaling, because “most Americans are of Indian descent [women]When they see a skeptical, hard-working, underappreciated character, they can identify with it. This offer to them.”

Daphne and Shaggy have also been reimagined as East Asian and black, respectively, as the voice actors, because “nobody on [Scooby-Doo] “It is defined by their whiteness” — “except for a uniquely very white,” Kaling said.

This made Howerton (graduate It’s always sunny in Philadelphia And the Kaling The Mindy Project) perfect for the role, with his fondness for playing titled The White Man. He agreed, saying, “It’s similar to what my friends and I did together as a very qualified white kid, like, Mom, give me exactly what I want! I was kinda expecting [the voice direction] to stop me. But no one stopped me.”

The moderator asked a question regarding the ecstasy of screen acting. When did the cast see themselves on TV? Wu replied – most likely referring to her role as Jessica Huang Fresh off the boat, whose production recently emerged as the subject of her book Detective – “I think I might have played her. The first time I saw her, it might have been me.” As for Richardson, he saw himself in the Black Power Ranger.

It remains to be seen whether film He will explore the recreated races of his characters; The show seems to prioritize a mixture of adult-friendly comedy and gratuitous violence that only animators can pull off. Season 1 of filmwhich will also feature Stephen Root and Weird Al Yankovic as guest stars, and is set to debut on HBO Max in 2023.