Scooby Doo director James Gunn has revealed that Velma Dinkley was originally supposed to be portrayed as “explicitly gay” in the films.
The filmmaker, who went on to receive widespread acclaim for directing Guardians of the Galaxy and its follow-up, wrote the screenplay for the beloved 2002 live-action version of the Hannah Barbera cartoon and its sequel, Monsters Unleashed.
Both blockbusters starred Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) as red-headed fashionista Daphne Blake, Freddie Prinze Jr. (She’s All That) as strait-laced leader Fred Jones, Matthew Lillard (Without a Paddle) as cowardly slacker Shaggy Rogers and Linda Cardellini (Dead to Me) as Velma, the brains of the group.