Mindy Kaling's Scooby-Doo Series Velma Has Been Canceled By Max

Update: Max confirmed "Velma" has been canceled in an official statement to IGN that reads as follows: "Over the past two seasons, Mindy [Kaling] and Charlie [Grandy] have created an incredibly fun and fresh world within the iconic whodunit franchise. While we won't be moving forward with another season of the series, we thank them for their compelling coming-of-age storytelling, unrivaled clues, and hilarious hijinks." The rest of this article has been left as it was originally written.

According to Davey Cummings, a background artist on Mindy Kaling's animated Max original "Velma," the show will not return for a third season. 

Over on Instagram (in a now-deleted post), Cummings posted some of his work from the upcoming "Velma" Halloween special before revealing something huge. "Backgrounds I painted for Velma Halloween Special," he wrote alongside a carousel post of different spooky backdrops. "So fun working with this crew. There will not be a season 3, but I hope I get to work with these amazing talented people again one day. GO WATCH 'VELMA' HALLOWEEN SPECIAL ON MAX!!"

Cummings is the first to announce this news, but it's not a huge surprise that Max chose to pull the plug on this "Scooby-Doo" spin-off, unfortunately. The show didn't garner great reviews when its first season initially premiered in 2023, and while some of those reactions were undoubtedly in bad faith (something that happened to women-run and women-led series all too often, frankly), there was valid criticism regarding some of the lackluster jokes and stereotypes found in "Velma." Still, it's surprising that Cummings was so forthcoming with news of the show's cancellation.

With Mindy Kaling herself as the voice of Velma — alongside Constance Wu as Daphne, Sam Richardson as Shaggy, and Glenn Howerton as Fred — you might think that this unapologetically brash spin on "Scooby-Doo" would have been a big hit when it dropped on Max in 2023. That simply didn't happen. Yes, a lot of the backlash against "Velma" was certainly due to the fact that both Velma and Kaling are Southeast Asian-American, and the showrunner tweaked the classic character for the narrative she wanted to create. Still, critics had legitimate concerns about the series' flip tone and approach to both race and sexuality. The show's Rotten Tomatoes consensus for season 1 says it "doesn't have the first clue for how to turn its clever subversion into engaging fun," and some reviewers just found the entire experience to be incredibly unpleasant, with Autostraddle's Heather Hogan writing, "Every episode is a cringy, eye-rolling slog that doesn't seem to have any idea who its audience is, yet seems to despise them all the same."

Still, "Velma" returned for a second season this year and, as Davey Cummings pointed out, aired a Halloween special titled "This Halloween Needs To Be More Special!" Apparently, this outing will be its last. Both seasons of "Velma" are streaming on Max now, as is the Halloween special.