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 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. On September 18, 2020, the series was officially renewed for a third season, along with the announcement that the show would permanently move to HBO Max, following the restructuring of DC Universe.

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 isolated from the rest of the United States, 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.

Main

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

Supporting

 * James Adomian as Bane, Chaz, Ian, Ratcatcher
 * Diedrich Bader as Batman
 * Tisha Campbell-Martin as Tawny Young, M.O.N.I.C.A.
 * Briana Cuoco as Batgirl
 * Andy Daly as Two-Face, the President, Mister Miracle, Darryl Brown
 * Rachel Dratch as Nora Fries, Queen Hippolyta
 * Giancarlo Esposito as Lex Luthor
 * Sean Giambrone as Joshua Cobblepot
 * Mary Holland as Jennifer, Tabitha
 * Tom Hollander as Alfred Pennyworth
 * Michael Ironside as Darkseid
 * Wayne Knight as the Penguin
 * Rahul Kohli as the Scarecrow
 * Phil LaMarr as Jason Praxis, Black Manta, Lucius Fox, Brian, Samson, Shark God
 * Sanaa Lathan as Catwoman
 * Vanessa Marshall as Wonder Woman, Giganta, Joey Day
 * Christopher Meloni as Commissioner James Gordon
 * Alfred Molina as Mr. Freeze
 * Matt Oberg as Kite Man, Killer Croc, KGBeast
 * Jim Rash as the Riddler, Stan, Mr. Isley
 * Will Sasso as Maxie Zeus
 * Rory Scovel as Gus
 * Wanda Sykes as the Queen of Fables
 * Jacob Tremblay as Robin
 * James Wolk as Superman

Guest voices

 * Charlie Adler as Nick Quinzel, Grandpa Quinzel
 * Chris Diamantopoulos as Aquaman
 * Susie Essman as Sharon Quinzel, Grandma Quinzel
 * Meryl Hathaway as Marcus
 * Jameela Jamil as Eris
 * Tom Kenny as Clayface's Hand
 * George Lopez as Himself
 * Justina Machado as Bethany
 * Howie Mandel as Himself
 * Natalie Morales as Lois Lane
 * Brad Morris as Victor Zsasz
 * Frankie Muniz as Himself
 * Suzy Nakamura as Realtor
 * Rhea Perlman as Golda
 * Jonah Platt as Clayface (singing voice)
 * Scott Porter as The Flash
 * Nicole Sullivan as Mrs. Cobblepot, Benjamin
 * Talia Tabin as Debbie Day
 * Jessica Walter as Granny Goodness, Wendy Brown
 * Mark Whitten as Herman Cizko / The Cowled Critic

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. Animation work is provided by NE4U, Digital eMation and Maven Image Platform in South Korea.

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.

On September 18, 2020, three months after the second season finale, it was announced that the series would be renewed for a third season, and the series would move to HBO Max. The third season will premiere sometime in 2021.

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; but this was false. In an interview after the season 1 release, Halpern went on record saying Robbie was kept in the loop, but she was never interested in playing the role since she was filming and producing Birds of Prey at the time. 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.

Music
Jefferson Friedman composed the music for the series. WaterTower Music released the soundtrack album for season 1 on August 21, 2020. The season 2 album was released on the same day.

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 United Kingdom and Ireland on May 7, 2020. The series debuted on HBO Max on August 1, 2020.

An original short featuring Harley answering questions from fans was released online during DC FanDome in 2020.

Reception
On Rotten Tomatoes, season 1 has an approval rating of 88% based on 32 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 17 reviews with an average rating of 9/10, and a critical consensus stating, "Harley Quinn maintains its frenetic energy and humor while doubling down on the shenanigans and giving its titular anti-heroine even more room to play." 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)."

Home media
The first season was released on DVD on June 2, 2020 and the second season will be released on February 16, 2021 by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. The first two seasons will also be released on Blu-ray in a box set by Warner Archive Collection.

Digitally, the first two seasons are also available for digital purchase on Prime Video and iTunes.