James Gunn says Warner Bros. wouldn’t let him make Velma gay in Scooby-Doo

Last Updated on May 17, 2023

Before director James Gunn took on the universe of the GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY franchise, he got his start in the studio system by writing the live-action SCOOBY-DOO movies. The first film was released to great success, grossing just over $257 million worldwide, and it was followed by a 2004 sequel, SCOOBY-DOO: MONSTERS UNLEASHED. The sequel took in a less impressive $181 million worldwide but both films were reasonably successful enough to combat the negative reviews. Now that a lot of time has passed since the release of the films, Gunn is revealing a tidbit about the Velma character, played by Linda Cardellini in the film, that Warner Bros. wanted no part of.

Gunn recently took to Twitter to reveal that he wanted to make Velma “explicitly gay” in his SCOOBY-DOO movies but Warner Bros. would not allow it and gradually phased out any story points that pertained to Velma’s homosexuality. You can check out the Twitter exchange below:

Gunn wrote to another fan on Twitter that some of the deleted scenes on the 2002’s home video release hinted at what he was attempting to do with Velma’s sexuality in the original script. Gunn went on to add that he’s surprised by the strong fandom for his SCOOBY-DOO movies on social media saying “I am shocked by how much the grown SCOOBY fans have increased their presence over the past year or so.”

Gunn hasn’t been involved with the SCOOBY films since the 2004 sequel which also starred Freddie Prinze Jr. as Fred, Sarah Michelle Gellar as Daphne, and Matthew Lillard as Shaggy. Neil Fanning voiced Scooby-Doo in the films. Warner Bros. recently revived the franchise this year with the animated SCOOB, which topped the VOD charts after being pulled from theaters in May due to the COVID-19. The film is currently available to stream on HBO Max.

Do YOU think Warner Bros. should have allowed Gunn to explore Velma’s sexuality in the films?