Unlike the first season of Velma, all 10 episodes were released on Max in one day, on April 25. The first season followed a weekly-release format.
Indeed, the marketing for Velma season 2 has been almost nonexistent, almost as if HBO wants to pretend like the show doesn't exist.
There was only one trailer for season 2 and it premiered just 10 days before the next episodes were released. Other than this trailer and a lone poster, there's been no other marketing for the show.
That's likely due to the incredibly ridiculed first season of the show, which has an incredibly poor Rotten Tomatoes score (a 39% approval rating among critics and a 7% audience score).
However, despite the negative reviews, the show set streaming records for Max, as the show's detractor hypothesized that it benefited from "hate-watching."
So, has a similar scenario played out for season 2 of the Mindy Kaling-led show?
Rotten Tomatoes seems to not be allowing critics to even post-season 2 reviews, which is quite telling.
Around the internet, IGN wrote in its review that, "Despite some character growth, Velma's second season remains an unfocused, confusing mess undermined by ineffective attempts at humor and a lack of coherent storytelling," giving the show a 4 out of 10.
AIPT, the latest comic book news site to emerge on the scene, was a bit more forgiving, scoring season two 6.5 out of 10, stating, "Velma’s sophomore effort improves upon the first season as the main cast slowly grows on you while retaining its great humor and soapy elements. But the least appealing part is Velma herself."
The Daily Beast was much more positive on the show, asserting that the humor was high-brow and simply went over the heads of the general audience- "Velma probably won’t be back for a third season, but that’s okay. It can be a blip on the Scooby-Doo franchise’s lengthy history, a show that a select few people really got. Velma was always far more intelligent and shrewd than people gave it credit for, and those of us who love it can take pride in going against the grain, much like our favorite bespectacled mystery solver has always done."
FeatureFirst.net stated in its reviews that the second season is an improvement but can't escape the hole dug by season one- "Velma tries to fix the monstrosity that was season one with its second season, but it’s evident the hole is too deep to get out of and in turn, these creatives are stuck in a corner. Through a series of slight improvements, the show does manage to put out a slightly better but still insufferable sequel to an extremely hated series."
TheHollywoodHanlde wrote that season two is more of the same- "Velma Season 2 is a decent continuation, yet it still doesn’t manage to be as amusing as it could. The humor is better, but the story is essentially the same thing: a generic detective game," giving it 2.5 out of 5 stars.
HBO previously renewed the show for a second season in June 2023, although there are reports that a second season was actually greenlit when the show was first commissioned.
On the second season, Suzanna Makkos, the executive vice president of original comedy and adult animation for Max and Adult Swim previously stated, "The series that we create at Max are art and voice driven, with character and comedy coming before anything else.”
“We’re always looking for hard comedy with heart and edge, diverse and inclusive shows with underlying thematic resonance, and character design that showcases the hand of the artist. I am so excited to share these incredible series with the world, and continue to show why Max is a great home for adult animation.”
Touching on the negative reviews, showrunner Charles Grandy previously made comments that asserted his belief that the negativity of the show was centered around fans who believed they were attempting to erase the original Scooby-Doo cartoon or that there was an agenda behind the race-swapping of Velma.
Said Grandy, "The original Hanna-Barbera shows are still out there to watch. We are not erasing the originals. We just want to be a little ice planet on the outer regions of the Scooby-verse!...None of these characters are rooted to being white. We were worried about going to Warner Bros. and asking them to do it, but they said, 'Do it. It's time! Just make sure it's funny and good!'
Velma Official Synopsis: Velma is an adult-animated comedy series telling the origin story of Velma Dinkley, the unsung and underappreciated brains of the Scooby-Doo Mystery Inc. gang. This original and humorous spin unmasks the complex and colorful past of one of America’s most beloved mystery solvers.
The main voice cast includes Kaling as Velma, Sam Richardson as Shaggy, Constance Wu as Daphne, and Glenn Howerton as Fred.
Kaling is the executive producer while Charlie Grandy serves as showrunner.