Season 3

The **third season** of *Harley Quinn* consists of ten episodes. It premiered with "Harlivy" on HBO Max on July 28, 2022 and concluded with "The Horse and the Sparrow" on September 15, 2022.

## Synopsis

The mayhem and madness continue in season three of this biting and uproarious adult animated comedy series. Wrapping up their “Eat. Bang! Kill. Tour,” Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy return to Gotham as the new power couple of DC villainy. Along with their ragtag crew – King Shark, Clayface, and Frank the Plant - "Harlivy" strives to become the best version of themselves while also working towards Ivy’s long desired plan of transforming Gotham into an Eden paradise.

## Episodes

1. "Harlivy"
2. "There's No Ivy in Team"
3. "The 83rd Annual Villy Awards"
4. "A Thief, a Mole, an Orgy"
5. "It's a Swamp Thing"
6. "Joker: The Killing Vote"
7. "Another Sharkley Adventure"
8. "Batman Begins Forever"
9. "Climax at Jazzapajizza"
10. "The Horse and the Sparrow"

## Cast and characters

### Main cast

* Kaley Cuoco as Harley Quinn, Kylie Kryptonite
* Lake Bell as Poison Ivy, Cheryl, Britney Bionic, Bank teller, Toilet
* Alan Tudyk as The Joker, Clayface, Ocean Master
* Ron Funches as King Shark
* JB Smoove as Frank the Plant
* Tony Hale as Dr. Psycho
* Jason Alexander as Sy Borgman
* Christopher Meloni as Commissioner Gordon

* Diedrich Bader as Batman, Thomas Wayne
* Tisha Campbell as Amanda Waller, Tawny Young, Janice
* Briana Cuoco as Batgirl
* Andy Daly as Two-Face, High Owl
* Rachel Dratch as Nora Freeze
* Harvey Guillén as Nightwing
* James Gunn as himself
* Tom Hollander as Alfred Pennyworth, Woke goon
* Phil LaMarr as Samson
* Sanaa Lathan as Catwoman
* Matt Oberg as Kite Man, Killer Croc
* Jim Rash as The Riddler, Mayor of Gotham, Jor-El, Imperceptible Man
* Sam Richardson as Swamp Thing
* Krizia Bajos as Bethany
* James Corleto as Benicio
* Sammi Corona-Lampa as Sophia
* Keith Ferguson as Male pedestrian
* Larissa Gallagher as Bus passenger, Prawn
* Larry Owens as Music Meister
* Griffin Newman as Mad Hatter
* Matt Ryan as John Constantine
* Amy Sedaris as Debbie
* Jack Stanton as Little Bruce
* Billy Bob Thornton as himself
* Jacob Tremblay as Robin
* Kari Wahlgren as Plastique, Queen Elizabeth II
* Gary Anthony Williams as Brother Prince Shark
* James Wolk as Superman

## Production

### Development

On September 18, 2020, almost three months after the second season concluded, *Harley Quinn* was announced to have been renewed for a third season which would be premiering on HBO Max instead of the show's previous network, DC Universe which would be closing down its video streaming. At the time, Patrick Schumacker and Justin Halpern estimated that the third season would be released at the earliest by the end of 2021 or early 2022.

Patrick Schumacker revealed during an interview that several new writers had been hired for the new season and that they had worked to diversifying the staff more, finding it especially important to hire more LGBT writers considering the direction they took in the preceding season. He also revealed that Dean Lorey would not be available to return as showrunner for the third season and would be replaced by Chrissy Pietrosh and Jessica Goldstein as co-showrunners alongside him and Justin Halpern.

On February 20, 2021, DC announced a sequel comic to the show in their 2021 line-up which Patrick Schumacker confirmed on Twitter would loosely tie into the third season and likely come out before the season's release. Two days later, Schumacker announced that they had officially started recording the voice-acting for season 3, with Diedrich Bader, Jim Rash and Christopher Meloni all returning to the booth to reprise their roles.

On March 3, 2022, Patrick Schumacker revealed on *Twitter* that they had finished the first audio mix of season 3, along with posting a teasing image from the season, this being the first fully finished (although significantly zoomed-in) shot from the season. The following month, Schumacker confirmed on *Twitter* that the season would premiere in summer of that year, which was later confirmed by HBO Max to more specifically to be in July. On June 7, the official *Harley Quinn* account on *Twitter* posted the first still from the season and confirmed the summer release.

Two more spoiler-filled images were dropped by Schumacker and the official *Twitter* account on June 27 along with teasing the release of a big announcement the following day. This turned out to be the release of the first official teaser trailer along with the reveal of a set release date of July 28th. Around the same time the titles of all 10 episodes were reported by *SpoilerTV* although they have yet to be confirmed by HBO Max. A few weeks later, the official poster for the season dropped on July 8 and the full official trailer was released by HBO Max on July 11.

### Confirmed plot-points

According to statements from Jefferson Friedman, the music composer for *Harley Quinn*, a full musical episode could be expected in the third season. However, Patrick Schumacker and Justin Halpern later confirmed this never came to be although the season would contain multiple song numbers throughout including Joker getting his own theme song and a duet between Batman and Catwoman.

Speaking of a season three, Patrick Schumacker and Justin Halpern have stated that they want to delve more into Poison Ivy's character and backstory and tell more stories through her point of view. They also mentioned delving into Commissioner Gordon's failing approval rating in Gotham City and him dealing with the realization of how the Gotham City Police Department has failed the city. They have also stated that the third season will be very Harley and Ivy centric, but asserted that they did not want the stakes to be whether or not they will break up, but rather focusing on navigating their new dynamic as a couple and dealing with the change of being in a good relationship after mostly being in toxic ones and how that baggage would affect their current relationship.

On March 4, 2021, the "Masters Of None" podcast released an interview with Executive Producer and co-head writer Justin Halpern, in which he revealed some news regarding Season 3. According to Halpern, the season will be released in late 2021 or early 2022 due to how long animation takes to produce. He confirmed that classic Batman villain the Mad Hatter will appear in the new season, there will be a standalone Joker episode as there was for Batman in Season 2 where they are planning to take the character in a direction that has never been done before, and Harley's crew will take another trip into a new character's head.

Later in March, Patrick Schumacker posted a tweet with photos of M. Night Shamalayan and a chicken wing, captioned “So excited for y’all to find out which new characters show up season 3” which fans easily deduced alluded to the character of Nightwing making his debut in season 3. He also confirmed that Clock King would be in the season and that the character of John Constantine would make a brief appearance. Shumacker has also stated that the season will feature a fair amount of Catwoman and Batman together, but that their relationship will be less than smooth.

In August 2021, Halpern and Shumacker went on the "Lavender You" podcast where they revealed a few new details about season 3 including that they would "push the envelope in terms of sexual situations" and that the very first scene of the season would "turn some heads". They also reaffirmed that Harley and Ivy's relationship will be going strong as well as that the season will explore Poison Ivy a lot and that a ton of episodes will be focused around her.

On October 17th, as part of the DC FanDome event, the first official teaser for the third season was presented in an animated segment featuring Harley Quinn and King Shark. While there was no finished footage as of yet, the teaser comprised of several animatics with finished voice-acting. The teaser showed Harley and Ivy returning to Gotham City and Commissioner Gordon vowing to bring them to justice. The teaser also confirmed the arrival of some new characters, including Amanda Waller, someone who appeared to be Swamp Thing as well as the Court of Owls and the return of characters like The Mayor of Gotham, KGBeats, Cheryl and Bane.

In March 2022, Patrick Schumacker revealed that the *The Suicide Squad* director James Gunn would be making an appearance in the third season as himself and would be directing a movie about Thomas Wayne. Gunn was reportedly contacted on *Twitter* by Schumacker on a whim, knowing he was a fan of the show. He recorded his lines remotely, as he was directing his DCEU series Peacemaker Canada at the time. Schumacker also revealed that an episode of the season would pay homage to *Batman: The Animated Series* where the character of Harley Quinn originates from. He teased that the episode would even contain some original backgrounds from the show.

### Controversy

A controversy arose when Justin Halpern revealed in an interview with *Variety* that a scene of Batman going down on Catwoman had been axed by DC who claimed that "Heroes don't do that" and that it would hurt their ability to sell toys of the character. This comment blew up on the internet with many fans weighing in on the absurdity of the ban. Even *Justice League* director Zack Snyder commented on the controversy by posting an image of Batman going down on Catwoman to Twitter with the caption "Canon".

The joke in question appeared in the episode "The 83rd Annual Villy Awards" where the scene of Batman going down on Catwoman was replaced with a foot massage although it still saw the characters in a pretty compromising position with Batman sat on the floor in front of Catwoman, nestled between her legs. Batman asks “Shall I continue…?” as the disinterested Catwoman responds, “It’s not worth it.”, perhaps a reference to the scene that could not be.

## Trivia

* The official poster is a reference to the classic painting *The Swing* by Jean-Honoré Fragonard with Harley and Ivy sitting on a swing surrounded by green, Ivy wearing a dress reminiscent of the original painting and Harley kicking her shoe off.
* This is the first season of *Harley Quinn* to premiere on HBO Max as well as the last before its rebranding to simply "Max" in 2023.

## Gallery

### Promotional

Official bannerSeason 3 announcementSeason 3 billboard, put up outside the Warner Bros. studioFirst promotional picture, released during DC Fandome 2021First finished shot shared, released by Patrick Schumacker on *Twitter*First full still from the season, released by the official *Twitter* accountTeaser image released by the official *Twitter* account on June 27, 2022Teaser image released by Patrick Schumacker on June 27, 2022Teaser image released by the HBO Max *Twitter* account on June 27, 2022First image revealed of Mad Hatter, posted by Griffin Newman on *Twitter*Twitter emoji (Harlivy)Twitter emoji (Harley Quinn)Twitter emoji (Poison Ivy)Twitter emoji (King Shark)Twitter emoji (Clayface)Twitter emoji (Joker)
### Videos

DC FanDome 2021 - Harley Quinn Season 3 TeaserHarley Quinn Season 3 - Teaser - DCHarley Quinn Season 3 - Official Trailer - DCHarley Quinn Season 3 - Official Red Band Trailer - DCSeason 1 & Season 2 Recap - Harley Quinn - HBO MaxHarley Quinn 3x01 "Sneak Peek" HBOmax - Season 3Harley Quinn Season 3 "This Season On" Trailer (HD) Kaley Cuoco HBO Max series
## References

1. ↑ Harley Quinn Season 3 Preview With Showrunner Patrick Schumacker (1:00:58) wordballoon, *YouTube* (December 13th, 2020).
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Harley Quinn Gets Season 3 Release Date, Teaser for 'Eat, Kill, Bang' Tour Matt Webb Mitovich, *TV Line* (June 28, 2022).
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Harley Quinn Season 3 | Teaser | DC DC, *YouTube* (June 28, 2022).
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 ‘Harley Quinn’ Unveils First Look at Season 3 at DC FanDome Joe Otterson, *Variety* (October 17, 2021).
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Masters of None Full Harley Quinn Justin Halpern Interview Masters Of None Podcast, *YouTube* (March 11, 2021).
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Harley Quinn Showrunner Teases Doctor Psycho's New Role in Season 3 Neeraj Chand, *TVweb* (September 25, 2020).
7. ↑ *Yes to all three.* Patrick Schumacker, *Twitter* (July 11, 2022).
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 *Today we started recording @dcharleyquinn season 3...* Patrick Schumacker, *Twitter* (February 22, 2021).
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 *Oh, Clock King is in the show this season for sure.* Patrick Shumacker, *Twitter* (March 22, 2021).
10. ↑ *Tisha Campbell!* Patrick Schumacker, *Twitter* (June 28, 2022).
11. ↑ Harley Quinn Season 3 | Official Red Band Trailer | DC DC, YouTube (July 18, 2022).
12. ↑ ‘Harley Quinn’: Harvey Guillén To Voice Nightwing In Season 3 Rosy Cordero, *Deadline* (March 17, 2022).
13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 *So excited for y'all to find out which new characters show up season 3 of @dcharleyquinn.* Patrick Shumacker, *Twitter* (March 22, 2021).
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 James Gunn Playing Himself In Harley Quinn Season 3 Grant Hermanns, *Screen Rant* (March 16, 2022).
15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Harley Quinn Season 3 | Official Trailer | DC DC, *YouTube* (July 11, 2022).
16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 *A good amount of BatCat content in this season, but I’d hardly call their relationship smooth this season!* Patrick Schumacker, *Twitter* (July 16, 2021).
17. ↑ Kaley Cuoco's Harley Quinn adds Veep star to cast of season 3 Rianne Houghton, *Digital Spy* (June 1, 2021).
18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Harley Quinn Season 3 Review: Harley And Ivy's Love Story Takes Center Stage In The Latest Season Of The Irreverent Send Up Of All-Things DC Chris Evangelista, *Slash Film* (July 21, 2022).
19. ↑ *Definitely* Patrick Schumacker, *Twitter* (July 13, 2022).
20. ↑ Harley Quinn: Bruce Wayne Almost Pissed His Pants In Season 3 | Comic Con 2022 IGN, *YouTube* (July 23, 2022).
21. ↑ *Very excited to say that I don’t think I’m allowed to say which classic Batman villain I’m playing on the new season of HARLEY QUINN!* Griffin Newman, *Twitter* (July 17, 2022).
22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 *Can finally reveal that I’m voicing MAD HATTER on @dcharleyquinn!...* Griffin Newman, *Twitter* (July 21, 2022).
23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 *Promise. It’s brief. But he’s there.* Patrick Shumacker, *Twitter* (March 23, 2021).
24. ↑ *You didn't think we'd let you down, did ya Puddin'? Harley Quinn Season 3 is coming to HBO Max!* HBO Max, *Twitter* (September 18th, 2020).
25. ↑ DC Universe Transforms Into DC Universe Infinite the Ultimate Comic Book Subscription Service DC Publicity, *DCComics* (September 18th, 2020).
26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 26.2 ‘Harley Quinn’ Creators Tease Move To HBO Max & Season 3 Storylines: A Healthier Love Life For Harley, Poison Ivy’s POV & A Takedown Of Failed Policing Matt Grobar, *Deadline Hollywood* (September 30, 2020).
27. ↑ Harley Quinn Season 3 Preview With Showrunner Patrick Schumacker (33:13) wordballoon, *YouTube* (December 13th, 2020).
28. ↑ Harley Quinn Season 3 Preview With Showrunner Patrick Schumacker (31:51) wordballoon, *YouTube* (December 13th, 2020).
29. ↑ DC Teases a Harley Quinn Animated Sequel, Elseworlds & DC Vampires for 2021 Collier Jennings, *CBR* (February 20, 2021).
30. ↑ *Extremely early but it does loosely tie into the show and what we’re cooking for season 3* Patrick Schumacker, *Twitter* (February 20, 2021).
31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 *Just finished the first audio mix of @dcharleyquinn...* Patrick Schumacker, *Twitter* (March 3, 2022).
32. ↑ Harley Quinn Season 3 Producer Confirms Release Date Window Russ Milheim, *The Direct* (April 8, 2022).
33. ↑ Harley Quinn Season 3 Finally Arrives on HBO Max This July Ryan Leston, *IGN* (June 24, 2022).
34. ↑ 34.0 34.1 *The hottest duo Gotham’s ever seen and we’re back this summer b\*tches!* @dcharleyquinn, *Twitter* (June 7, 2022).
35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 35.2 Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy Now #Harlivy; S03 Info Teased for Tuesday Ray Flook, *Bleeding Cool* (June 27, 2022).
36. ↑ *We’re swingin' into the hottest summer yet, b\*tches! #Harlivy #HarleyQuinnS3* @dcharleyquinn, *Twitter* (July 8, 2022).
37. ↑ 'Harley Quinn' Official Season 3 trailer teases a terraformed Gotham and Joker running for mayor Benjamin Bullard, *SyFy Wire* (July 11, 2022).
38. ↑ If ‘Harley Quinn’ Gets a Season 3, Expect a Musical Episode, According To The Composer Alani Vargas, *Showbiz Cheat Sheet* (June 23, 2020).
39. ↑ 'Harley Quinn' Panel | SDCC 2022 | Entertainment Weekly Entertainment Weekly *YouTube* (July 22, 2022).
40. ↑ HARLEY QUINN EPS TALK THE EVOLUTION OF HARLIVY AND PLANS FOR SEASON 3 Carly Lane, *SyFY Wire* (June 26, 2020).
41. ↑ Lavender You Episode 06: JUSTIN HALPERN & PATRICK SCHUMACKER Lavender You, *YouTube* (August 26, 2021).
42. ↑ James Gunn joined Kaley Cuoco's 'Harley Quinn' after receiving a message on Twitter from one of the show's producers Kirsten Acuna, *Insider* (July 29, 2022).
43. ↑ Harley Quinn Spin-Off Series In The Works At HBO Max [SXSW] Rafael Motamayor, *Slash Film* (March 14, 2022).
44. ↑ How ‘WandaVision,’ ‘The Umbrella Academy,’ ‘Harley Quinn’ Subvert the Superhero Genre Joe Otterson, *Variety* (June 14, 2021).
45. ↑ Batman, Catwoman Oral Sex Scene Blocked From Series: “Heroes Don’t Do That” James Hibberd, *The Hollywood Reporter* (June 15, 2021).
46. ↑ Harley Quinn Season 3 Reveals 'Fix' for Nixed Batman/Catwoman Oral Sex Matt Webb Mitovich, *TV Line* (July 28, 2022).
47. ↑ *You’ve seen the @dcharleyquinn show on @hbomax, but have you seen THE GIANT BILLBOARD ADAPTATION?!...* Patrick Schumacker, *Twitter* (August 8, 2022).
48. ↑ *Relationships are messy. #Harlivy ...* HBO Max, *Twitter* (June 27, 2022).