Work has begun on a second season of Velma despite the show's overly negative reviews. Serving as a fresh reboot of the Scooby-Doo story, the new show serves as a prequel, going back to when the members of Mystery Inc. weren't yet solving mysteries together while traveling from one spooky location to another. The characters have been reimagined in both appearance and personality, while the total absence of Scooby-Doo himself has served as one of the biggest gripes fans have had about the show.

In any case, Velma was met with very harsh reviews from critics and viewers upon its release on HBO Max last month. It has an abysmal audience score of just 7% at Rotten Tomatoes while sitting on a rotten score on the Tomatometer at 42%. Velma is faring even worse on IMDb where it's been labeled with a 1.4 out of 10 score based on more than 66,000 fan ratings. But for all of those bad reviews, people were tuning in for Velma en masse, even if seemingly most viewers weren't enjoying it. And that high viewership may have been enough to convince HBO Max to roll the dice with another season, perhaps hopeful that fans will start warming up to the show by season 2.

As of now, HBO Max has not officially announced a season renewal for Velma, though there have been some recent rumors about a second season in gestation. Deadline now reports that Warner Bros. Television Group Chairman and CEO, Channing Dungey, is actively having her team working on a second season of Velma. It's noted in that report that Velma set the record for the most-watched animated series debut ever on HBO Max, lending some credence that this high viewership outweighed the negative reviews enough to move forward with season 2 of the new Velma Dinkley's adventures.

Related: Velma's Latest Scooby-Doo Retcon Has Fans Fuming Once Again as Season 1 Comes to a Close

Velma Will Reportedly Return

Pole Dance Scene - Velma
HBO Max

Charlie Grandy developed Velma with some creative assistance from executive producer Mindy Kaling. The adult animated series follows a teenage Velma (voiced by Kaling) as she investigates the murders carried out by a local serial killer while navigating a love quadrangle involving her frenemies Fred Jones (Glenn Howerton), Norville Rogers (Sam Richardson), and Daphne Blake (Constance Wu).

Velma doesn't have a premiere date for season 2, as the renewal has yet to be officially announced by the streamer, but you can now stream the full 10-episode first season now on HBO Max.