Mindy Kaling's Velma to have "no dog, no van," and a Velma of East Asian descent

That’s a far more radical alteration to the formula, given that Velma originates from a series that, one might argue, is “all dog,” in the form of terrifying canine mutant Scooby-Doo. You could even go so far as to suggest that Velma was created primarily to provide a stark contrast to the famously articulate-but-not-as-articulate-as-would-be-ideal animal, employing logic and rational skepticism to solve problems that ol’ Scoob might tackle by eating a very large sandwich. Even properties that radically alter or parody the Mystery Inc. gang—like DC Comics’ Scooby Apocalypse, or The Venture Bros.’ Manson-family-ish spin on the franchise—don’t usually get rid of the dog. It’d be like having a Daria without her Beavis, or Butthead. Which, okay, that’s Daria, so maybe we should keep an open mind here.

Ascheim did note that the core four human character of the franchise will all be intact, although god only knows how they’re going to meet up with each other without a van. No word yet on when Velma—which was announced back in February, along with the Clone High revival—is expected to land at HBO Max.