Harley Quinn (TV series)


Harley Quinn is an American adult animated television series based on the DC Comics character of the same name created by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm. The series is written and executive produced by Justin Halpern, Patrick Schumacker, and Dean Lorey, and follows the misadventures of Harley Quinn and her best friend/partner-in-crime Poison Ivy after leaving her ex-boyfriend, the Joker.
The show premiered on November 29, 2019 on DC Universe to critical success, with critics praising its animation, humor, dark tone and voice acting.
The show's second season premiered on April 3, 2020. The show debuted on HBO Max on August 1, 2020.

Overview

The series follows Harley Quinn's adventures after she breaks up with the Joker and her attempt to join the Legion of Doom, forming her own crew consisting of Poison Ivy, Clayface, Doctor Psycho, King Shark, and Sy Borgman. When she finally achieves this goal however, she inadvertently distances herself from her newfound friends and continues to face problems from the Joker, who refuses to accept the idea of Harley becoming a supervillain on her own. In the season one finale, the Joker manages to take over Gotham, only to be defeated by Harley and her crew. In a final act of retaliation, he destroys the entire city, resulting in the apparent deaths of both him and Batman.
In the second season, Gotham City has become, allowing the newly-formed Injustice League to take over Gotham's ruins and divide it between them. After they refuse to let Harley join, she works with her crew to take them down one by one in order to claim Gotham for herself, in the process unwittingly inspiring Barbara Gordon to become Batgirl. Meanwhile, both the Joker and Batman are revealed to have survived, the former now sane and with no memory of his old self while the latter, unable to fight crime due to his injuries, names Batgirl his temporary replacement as Gotham's defender until he recovers. Following the Injustice League's defeat, Commissioner Gordon restores order to Gotham while Harley begins to develop feelings for Ivy. Concurrently, Doctor Psycho leaves the crew and attempts to conquer the world on his own, taking control of a Parademon army. To stop him, Harley joins forces with the Justice League, Gordon, and the Joker; reluctantly restoring the Joker back to his former self in the process. While the League defeat the Parademons, Harley and Ivy defeat Psycho, but he reveals a memory of them sleeping together, right before Ivy's wedding with Kite Man. Though Ivy and Kite Man attempt to continue on, after Gordon busts the wedding, Kite Man realizes Ivy does not love him and breaks up with her. While running from Gordon together, Ivy finally admits her feelings for Harley.

Cast

Main

Season 1 (2019–20)

Season 2 (2020)

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 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 ' 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 ' and . 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. The series debuted on HBO Max on August 1, 2020.

Reception

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 13 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."

Home media

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.