Harley Quinn

**Harley Quinn** is an American adult-animated web television series based on the DC Comics character of the same name, created by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm, created, executive produced by Justin Halpern, Patrick Schumacker, and Dean Lorey exclusively for the DC Comics-only streaming service, DC Universe.

According to an email, titled "Find Your Next Animated Adventure " was sent to subscribers, revealed that Harley Quinn is coming to HBO Max on an unknown date, later revealed to be on August 1, 2020.

## Premise

*Harley Quinn* has Harley Quinn being fed up being the Joker’s sidekick and strikes out on her own – determined to become the criminal Queenpin of Gotham City with an Injustice League of her own.

## Cast

### Main

* Kaley Cuoco as Harley Quinn
* Lake Bell as Poison Ivy, Cheryl
* Ron Funches as King Shark
* Tony Hale as Doctor Psycho, Felix Faust
* Jason Alexander as Sy Borgman
* J. B. Smoove as Frank the Plant
* Alan Tudyk as Clayface, the Joker, Calendar Man, Doctor Trap, Condiment King

## Production

### Development

On November 20, 2017, it was announced that the then-unnamed DC Universe had ordered 26 episodes of *Harley Quinn*, a half-hour adult animated action-comedy series created and written by Justin Halpern, Patrick Schumacker and Dean Lorey. Executive producers were set to include Halpern, Schumacker, Lorey, and Sam Register with Jennifer Coyle serving as a producer. Production companies involved in the series were slated to consist of Ehsugadee Productions and Warner Bros. Animation. The first season consists of 13 episodes of the initial 26-episode order.

In June 2018, it was announced that the series would premiere in 2019.  In October, it was further mapped as an October 2019 premiere. It was also reported that *The Big Bang Theory* actress Kaley Cuoco would also serve as an executive producer for the series through her production company Yes, Norman Productions.

It was revealed that a second season was produced and would be available to stream on April 3, 2020, consisting of another 13 episodes.

### Casting

Alongside the series order announcement, it was reported that the producers of the series were expected to approach Margot Robbie, who portrays the character in the DC Extended Universe, to reprise the role. Other characters expected to be featured in the series included the Joker, Poison Ivy, Sy Borgman, Doctor Psycho, Malice Vundabar, King Shark, and Clayface.

On October 3, 2018, it was announced that Cuoco would voice Harley Quinn and Lake Bell would voice Poison Ivy. Additional voice actors in the series include Alan Tudyk as Joker and Clayface, Ron Funches as King Shark, J. B. Smoove as Frank the Plant, Jason Alexander as Sy Borgman, Wanda Sykes as the Queen of Fables, Giancarlo Esposito as Lex Luthor, Natalie Morales as Lois Lane, Jim Rash as Riddler, Diedrich Bader reprising his role from *Batman: The Brave and the Bold* as Batman himself, Tony Hale as Dr. Psycho and Christopher Meloni as James Gordon. Shortly after, Rahul Kohli revealed he would voice Scarecrow in the series. In June 2019, Sanaa Lathan was revealed to be voicing Catwoman, who was depicted as African-American. On July 24, 2019, Vanessa Marshall revealed to be reprising Wonder Woman from *Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths* and *Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox*. While on the following day, *TV Guide* revealed that veteran voice actor Charlie Adler has been confirmed to serve as the series' additional voice director with Schumacker and Lorey serving as the voice directors. In February 2020, Alfred Molina was announced to be voicing Mr. Freeze. In April 2020, Schumacker confirmed that Michael Ironside would be reprising his role as Darkseid from the DC animated universe and *Lego DC Super-Villains*.

### Release

*Harley Quinn* premiered on DC Universe on November 29, 2019. On October 3, 2018, ahead of the annual New York Comic Con, a teaser trailer featuring Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy and Batman in Arkham was released. A full, uncensored trailer set to Joan Jett's cover of the theme song from *The Mary Tyler Moore Show* was released on July 20, 2019 to coincide with the panel at San Diego Comic-Con.

On December 8, 2019, the first episode was shown as a special presentation on TBS. Season 1 started airing on Syfy on May 3, 2020. The series airs on Adult Swim in Canada, with new episodes airing a week after their American premiere. The series started airing on E4 in the UK and Ireland on May 7, 2020.

On July 20, 2020, the series, the first two seasons only, was finally announced to appear on HBO Max on August 1, 2020.

## Reception

### Critical

On *Rotten Tomatoes*, season 1 has an approval rating of 87% based on 30 reviews, with an average rating of 8.25/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "A strong voice cast and an even stronger grasp of what makes its titular antiheroine so beloved make Harley Quinn a violently delightful—and surprisingly insightful—addition to the DC animated universe." Season 2 has an approval rating of 100% based on 12 reviews, with an average rating of 8.83. On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 82 out of 100, based on reviews from 7 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".

Caroline Framke of Variety wrote: "The animation feels like that of a typical Saturday morning cartoon, but its acidic scripts and shocking bursts of gore reminds you that Harley Quinn is taking full advantage of airing on a streaming service without censors. [...] Sharp voice performances across the board from actors clearly relishing the chance to play in this world also prove too fun to resist. [...] Most importantly, Harley gets to be an entire person all her own, as heartbreakingly naive as she is wickedly strange and funny." Robyn Bahr of The Hollywood Reporter wrote: "It's one of the best surprises of the year. [...] 13 zippy, violent and irreverent half-hour episodes. [...] The writing is frequently uproarious, chock full of Millennial nostalgia and cerebral gallows humor (the former may be low-hanging, rapidly-perishable fruit, but at least the show knows how to embrace its audience)."

## Trivia

* The first season was released on DVD on June 2, 2020. Additionally, the first season is available for digital purchase on Prime Video, with seasons 1 and 2 available for purchase on iTunes.