Linda Cardellini is open to returning to Scooby-Doo. Asked about a cameo in Netflix’s new live-action series, the original big-screen Velma answered, “Oh, I would never rule that out.”
She said she loved the cartoon growing up and still hears from kids who grew up watching her films. She also welcomed the new cast, calling them “part of something that is television history” and promising to support the project “in any way I can.”
That enthusiasm doesn’t mean a return is in the works. Cardellini didn’t say she’d been approached about a cameo or that she was in talks to appear.
She played Velma Dinkley in 2002’s Scooby-Doo and its 2004 sequel, both written by James Gunn, alongside Sarah Michelle Gellar, Freddie Prinze Jr. and Matthew Lillard. And she’s remained fond of the role. Asked about returning in 2022, she told Entertainment Weekly, “Oh God, yeah!” before adding, “I’m probably too old.”
This spring, she told Entertainment Times she’d sent “enough congratulations” to Abby Ryder Fortson, who takes over as Velma. Her advice was simple: “Just have fun.”
Fortson, known for playing Cassie Lang in the Ant-Man films, joins Mckenna Grace as Daphne, Tanner Hagen as Shaggy and Maxwell Jenkins as Fred in Scooby-Doo: Origins. The eight-episode Netflix series from Warner Bros. Television follows the gang through a final summer at camp, with a real Great Dane playing Scooby.
Production wrapped by mid-September with the series set to arrive in 2027. Any first-season appearance by Cardellini would therefore have to be something she’s already filmed and kept under wraps. For now, she’s promoting a very different role: Pamela Voorhees, Jason’s mother, in Peacock’s Friday the 13th prequel Crystal Lake.
