VELMA Interview: Shaggy & Fred Voice Actors

VELMA voice actors Sam Richardson & Glenn Howerton spoke to The Natural Aristocrat® about voicing Shaggy (Norville Rogers) and Fred Jones in the HBO Max original.

This VELMA interview contains marginal spoilers for Season 1.

Velma Dinley and Fred Jones in VELMA Season 1. Photo Credit: Courtesy of HBO Max

THE NATURAL ARISTOCRAT (NIR REGEV): What’s up with friendzoned Shaggy? It’s so brutal to watch. Feels bad every time to see Shaggy just pining away like that.

SAM RICHARDSON: (laughs) Yeah! I mean, you don’t always get what you want, you know? It’s a whole other person and so you’re obsessive, you’re gonna keep on knocking the same door, I think. But also like that sadness is funny.

Norville “Shaggy” Rogers in VELMA Season 1. Photo Credit: Courtesy of HBO Max

THE NATURAL ARISTOCRAT: Would you ever consider giving away your kidney in real life for a girl like Shaggy you think?

Norville “Shaggy” Rogers in VELMA Season 1. Photo Credit: Courtesy of HBO Max

SAM RICHARDSON: Yeah. But for a person, you know what I mean? I’m just very giving, I think is what I’m getting at.

THE NATURAL ARISTOCRAT: Glenn, I think they did you wrong with Fred! They’re always making references to Fred Jones having “small genitalia” and all that on VELMA. How do you feel about that?

Fred Jones and Velma Dinkley in VELMA Season 1. Photo Credit: Courtesy of HBO Max

GLENN HOWERTON: (laughs) I think it’s hilarious and super funny! I think it’s so funny that he’s a man who hasn’t… Or rather a boy, who hasn’t gone through puberty and is super embarrassed about it. It’s hilarious!

Fred Jones Family and Velma’s dad in VELMA Season 1. Photo Credit: Courtesy of HBO Max

THE NATURAL ARISTOCRAT: Were you guys Scooby-Doo fans growing up? Do you like the changes?

SAM RICHARDSON: I do. I’m a big fan of like every iteration, truly.

It’s nice to reimagine things because there is such a long history of Scooby-Doo and the Mystery Inc gang. There’s a space for them to kind of find new ways to exist because it doesn’t negate the fact that the other ones existed either.

Velma Dinkley in VELMA Season 1. Photo Credit: Courtesy of HBO Max

Right now, you can put on whatever and find every Scooby-Doo movie and every cartoon or A Pup Named Scooby-Doo and watch them for literally years.

But I think this is a fun new way to see these characters and a very funny interpretation of these characters. It’s a very adult focused one that hasn’t existed before.

GLENN HOWERTON: Yeah, same! Love the original show so much, all the original cartoons especially. But also love doing a totally different interpretation of all of them.

Fred Jones in VELMA Season 1. Photo Credit: Courtesy of HBO Max

THE NATURAL ARISTOCRAT: Do you feel VELMA is following the footsteps of early Adult Swim shows like Sealab 2021, Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law and Space Ghost: Coast to Coast? As VELMA is so drastically different than the Scooby-Doo originals in a lot of ways outside of the character designs themselves.

GLENN HOWERTON: Well, those Adult Swim shows were just so outrageously strange and odd. I don’t think this is quite as strange and odd as that.

Although, yeah. You know, I do think that those Adult Swim shows probably did influence how absurd you could go with comedy, you know? So you can probably go a little bit more absurd now than you could before.

Fred Jones in VELMA Season 1. Photo Credit: Courtesy of HBO Max

SAM RICHARDSON: Yeah, because with those shows, they were an off kilter continuation. Like with Sealab 2021. Cause that show was based on Sealab 2020.

It’s like what happens the very next year and everything goes off the rails. But it’s all the exact same vehicle.

But with VELMA, it’s a reimagining, so it’s like cut from the introduction of these characters. It’s a new satirical re-imagining, sort of high school drama and mysteries. Like that one Archie spinoff show.

GLENN HOWERTON: Oh yeah, Riverdale?

SAM RICHARDSON: Riverdale! This is sort of like Riverdale meets Scooby-Doo, meets adult humor, meets slasher films, meets hard, hard comedy. So, I think it’s its own thing.

THE NATURAL ARISTOCRAT: Thanks guys!

GLENN HOWERTON & SAM RICHARDSON: Thank you!

– Stream VELMA on HBO Max starting January 12, 2023. You can also subscribe to the HBO MAX Channel on Amazon to watch VELMA as well.

– On YouTube? Be sure to comment on this VELMA interview!

Mindy Kaling is Velma Dinkley in HBO Max Original VELMA. Photo Credit: Courtesy of HBO Max

VELMA is a type of prequel reimagining of the Scooby-Doo franchise.

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Velma Dinkley in VELMA Season 1. Photo Credit: Courtesy of HBO Max

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