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Dead to Me star Linda Cardellini, who starred as Velma in two live-action Scooby-Doo movies, is happy that the character will finally be lesbian in the new animated movie, Trick or Treat Scooby-Doo!

While fans have long speculated that Velma was gay, it wasn’t until the latest animated film that the character was seen romantically interested in another female character named Coco Diablo. Every time Coco comes around or is mentioned, the Mystery Inc. member can be seen falling head over heels.

“Velma has been around since 1969,” Cardellini told Entertainment Weekly. “I just went trick or treating with my daughter and there were a lot of Velmas out there, so I love that she still has this place in culture that is sort of always active for decades. I think [her being a lesbian has] been hinted at so many times, and I think it’s great that it’s finally out there.”

Cardellini starred as Velma in 2002’s Scooby-Doo and 2004’s Scooby-Doo: Monsters Unleashed, both of which co-starred Matthew Lillard as Shaggy, Sarah Michelle Gellar as Daphne and Freddie Prinze Jr. as Fred.

When asked if she would return as Velma in a third Scooby-Doo movie, Cardellini said: “Oh God, yeah!” she said. “[But] I’m probably too old.”

Cardellini’s two live-action Scooby-Doo movies were distributed by Warner Bros. and written by James Gunn (director of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy film trilogy) who revealed in 2020 that he wanted to make Cardellini’s live-action Velma explicitly gay in the live-action movies, but the studio said no.

“In 2001, Velma was explicitly gay in my initial script,” Gunn wrote on Twitter. “But the studio just kept watering it down and watering it down, becoming ambiguous (the version shot), then nothing (the released version) and finally having a boyfriend (the sequel).”

Cardellini is currently making the press rounds in support of the third and final season of Netflix’s dark comedy Dead to Me, which debuts November 17 on the streaming platform.