Harley Quinn - Season 1
The show's second season premiered on April 3, 2020.[2] On September 18, 2020, the series was officially renewed for a third season, along with the announcement that the show would move to HBO Max, following the restructuring of DC Universe.[3] The third season premiered on July 28, 2022.[4] On August 31, 2022, the series was renewed for a fourth season.[5] A standalone 44-minute special episode, titled "A Very Problematic Valentine's Day Special", premiered on February 9, 2023.[6]
Harley Quinn - Season 1
The first season focuses on Harley's attempts to prove herself as a competent villain in order to join the Legion of Doom, starting with the formation of her own crew consisting of Poison Ivy, Clayface, Doctor Psycho, King Shark, and Sy Borgman.[7] When she finally achieves this goal, however, she inadvertently distances herself from her newfound friends and continues to face problems from the Joker, who cannot stand the idea of Harley being a successful supervillain without him. In the season one finale, the Joker manages to take over Gotham City, only to be defeated by Harley and her crew. In a final act of retaliation, he destroys the entire city, resulting in his and Batman's apparent deaths.
In the third season, after reforming their crew, Harley and Ivy make plans to terraform the planet, while also dealing with problems that arise from their newfound status as a couple. After Ivy's pet plant Frank goes missing, she and Harley begin searching for him, unaware that Frank has been captured by Batman, whose relationship with Catwoman is failing and now seeks to use Frank's mutant powers to resurrect his parents Thomas and Martha Wayne. Meanwhile, Gordon continues his mission to capture Harley and Ivy, while also running for mayor, assisted by Two-Face, who seeks to become district attorney again and proves to be a negative influence for Gordon. After realizing this, Gordon ends his partnership with Two-Face and steps back from the election, allowing the Joker to become the new mayor of Gotham.
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.[40] The first season consists of 13 episodes of the initial 26-episode order.[41] Animation work is provided by NE4U, Digital eMation and Maven Image Platform in South Korea.[citation needed]
On September 18, 2020, three months after the second-season finale, it was announced that the series had been renewed for a third season, and would move to HBO Max.[3] In February 2021, series creator Patrick Schumacker announced that they had begun recording season 3.[46]
In June 2021, it was revealed that a planned oral sex scene between Catwoman and Batman in season 3 was cut by DC.[47] It was replaced by a scene of Batman not being good at giving Catwoman a foot massage.[48]
Schumacker stated the third season was more difficult to produce, but it will be much simpler not having to create two seasons back to back. Halpern has stated in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that season 3 will explore Harley's reaction to a half healthy relationship with Ivy as well as focusing more on Ivy's backstory as the previous two seasons were mainly focused on Harley.[49] Schumacker said that new writers from the LGBTQ+ community have been hired because of the direction of season 2 and that it is a priority to diversify the staff for season 3.[50] Schumacker also revealed that Dean Lorey would no longer be available to return as showrunner for season 3 and would be replaced by new co-showrunners Chrissy Pietrosh and Jessica Goldstein alongside him and Justin Halpern.[50] Composer Jefferson Friedman revealed there would be a musical episode coming, and also stated that he wanted to refresh the music to give identity for each character.[51] During an interview with Deadline Hollywood, Schumacker stated that his desire was to open season 3 on "an actual Zoom, where the GCPD is just being berated by the city of Gotham for their ineptitude".[52] In February 2021, series creator Patrick Schumacker announced that they had begun recording season 3.[46]
On August 9, 2022, it was announced that a fourth season is in development.[54] On August 31, 2022, HBO Max renewed the series for a fourth season with Sarah Peters promoted to executive producer and showrunner, since Halpern and Schumacker will be busy with Noonan's.[5] On October 7, 2022, it was reported that the series is getting a holiday special called "Harley Quinn: A Very Problematic Valentine's Day Special" which was released in February 2023.[6]
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 (DCEU), 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.[40] Other characters expected to be featured in the series included Joker, Poison Ivy, Sy Borgman, Doctor Psycho, Malice Vundabar, King Shark, and Clayface.[55][56][57]
In June 2020, in an AMA on Reddit, Justin Halpern, co-showrunner of the series, admitted that the show missed subverting the trope of bisexuals being cheaters or prone to infidelity and promised to do better in the third season.[69] Halpern also said, in later comments, that the show takes representation seriously,[70] that both Harley and Ivy had relationships with women before,[71] that Ivy had a crush on Catwoman,[71] and explained how the relationship between Harley and Ivy developed.[72]
The first season was released on DVD on June 2, 2020, and the second season was released on February 16, 2021, by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. The first two seasons were also released on Blu-ray by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment under the Warner Archive Collection on February 16, 2021.[89]
Noonan's, a spin-off featuring Kite Man and his current girlfriend Golden Glider, is currently in development for HBO Max.[117] The first season is set to comprise ten episodes, with Oberg returning to voice Kite-Man.[118]
Season 1DetailsEpisodes13Premiere"Til Death Do Us Part"Finale"The Final Joke"Release DateNovember 29, 2019Finale DateFebruary 21, 2020Harley Quinn Next Season 2 The first season of Harley Quinn consists of thirteen episodes. It debuted with "Til Death Do Us Part" on November 29, 2019 on DC Universe, and concluded with "The Final Joke" on February 21, 2020.
Overall, this show is another hit from the DC Universe streaming service. Every Friday I looked forward to the next episode, and I never got bored. Harley Quinn is delightfully and unapologetically chaotic, while also having just enough heart to make me feel invested in Harley and her friends. Thankfully, season 2 is coming in April, because I need more of this awesome series.
The animated series of Harley Quinn is surprisingly entertaining, character driven and gives even the casual viewer a fresh perspective that the character of Harley Quinn is more than her relationship with the Joker. The rest of the ensemble are great and the voice talent does a great job, especially Kaley Cuoco, Lake Bell, Ron Funches, Tony Hale, J.B Smoove and Alan Tudyk. Definitely interested to see how the second season will follow up this impressive first season.
UPDATE: Per HBO Max, the first two seasons of Harley Quinn will begin streaming on August 1. So get amped fans, as well as those who have heard great things about the animated series, featuring Kaley Cuoco as the iconic baseball bat-wielding agent of chaos. Collider has confirmed with WarnerMedia that the show will eventually become available on the new mega-service.
Look, the point is that the first two seasons of Harley Quinn will soon be available for a wider audience, and they're really wonderful, and hopefully, more attention being paid will mean that the showrunners get a chance at a Season 3.
The following contains spoilers for Harley Quinn season 3.Harley Quinn's most recent season ended with some major changes to the characters, and the series showrunners have some thoughts on what to expect when the show returns. Heroes became villains, villains became heroes, and other villains became even more villainy. But what does that mean for season 4?
Justin Halpern and Patrick Schumacker have helmed the Harley Quinn series since its debut on the now-defunct DC Universe streaming service. But it turns out Harley Quinn season 4 will debut new showrunner Sarah Peters, who has served as a writer for the show during its entire run so far. So with this passing of the torch comes a new status quo for their version of Gotham City, and it's actually been in the works for a while.
Season 3 saw Harley (Kaley Cuoco) go back to her roots as a therapist to help Batman (Diedrich Bader) deal with his destructive obsession with resurrecting his dead parents. The series somehow pulled this off while remaining hilariously on-brand for Harley Quinn. But in a shocking twist, this also inspired Harley herself to take a heroic turn and end the season by helping Batgirl (Briana Cuoco), Nightwing (Harvey Guillén), and the rest of the "Bat Family." Her girlfriend Poison Ivy (Lake Bell) was heartwarmingly supportive in this endeavor, despite her own villainous aspirations. So this also introduces some fascinating potential for the next season.
However Peters might shake things up, it's clear she has a love for the characters and world they've all created that proves she's definitely cut out for her new position as showrunner. Harley Quinn has put out some of its most interesting and creative episodes yet this season, and if she's got more of that up her sleeve, then this show will easily continue to be one of the most iconic animated versions of Harley Quinn. 041b061a72