According to Davey Cummings, a background artist on Mindy Kaling's animated Max original “Velma,” the series will not return for a third season.

Over on Instagram, Cummings posted some of his work from the upcoming “Velma” Halloween special before revealing something big. “Backgrounds I painted for Velma Halloween Special,” he wrote alongside a carousel post featuring various spooky backgrounds. “It's so much fun working with this crew. There won't be a third season, but I hope to work with these incredibly talented people again one day. WATCH THE HALLOWEEN SPECIAL “VELMA” ON MAX!!”

Cummings is the first to announce the news, but unfortunately it's no big surprise that Max has decided to pull the plug on this Scooby-Doo spin-off. The series didn't receive great reviews when its first season first premiered in 2023, and even afterward some These reactions were undoubtedly malicious (as was the case with female-led and female-led shows). all Too often, frankly), there have been legitimate criticisms of some of the lackluster jokes and stereotypes found in “Velma.” Still, it's surprising that Cummings was so open-hearted with the news of the show's cancellation.

Starring Mindy Kaling herself as the voice of Velma – alongside Constance Wu as Daphne, Sam Richardson as Shaggy and Glenn Howerton as Fred – you'd think this uncompromisingly brash take on Scooby-Doo would have been a huge hit when it came out on Max in 2023. That just didn't happen. Yes, a lot of the backlash against “Velma” was certainly due to the fact that both Velma and Kaling are Southeast Asian Americans and the showrunner tweaked the classic character for the narrative she wanted to create. Still, critics had legitimate concerns about the show's divergent tone and approach to race and sexuality. The series' Rotten Tomatoes consensus for its first season states that it “hasn't the slightest idea how to turn its clever subversion into compelling fun,” and some reviewers simply found the entire experience incredibly unpleasant, like Heather Hogan of Autostraddle writes, “Each episode is a cringe-worthy, eye-rolling slog that seems to have no idea who its audience is but seems to despise them nonetheless.”

Still, “Velma” returned for a second season this year and, as Davey Cummings pointed out, aired a Halloween special called “This Halloween Needs to Be Even More Special!” Apparently this trip will be his last. Both seasons of Velma are now streaming on Max, as is the Halloween special.