DC Universe released a trailer for their new series Harley Quinn. In the first minute of the trailer alone, the f-bomb is dropped twice. With the combination of language, a graphic beheading, and an HPV joke DC Universe made their point clear: just because the show is animated does not mean it’s for children.
Harley Quinn has a similar storyline as the film Birds of Prey, which centers around the same character, that comes out early 2020. Like the film, they were both greenlit in 2017. DC Universe ordered 26 half-hour episodes of the series from Executive Producers Justin Halpern and Patrick Schumacker (Powerless). Halpern has explained the series as, “The idea is that we’ve all been in relationships with someone that we felt wasn’t right for us, all the way to someone that was toxic for us, and how you extricate yourself from that is really what this show is all about.”
Kaley Cuoco (Big Bang Theory) joined as the voice of the title role and as an executive producer later on in development. During an interview at the Television Critics Association, she talked more about her character’s journey, “She’s learning what real friendships are. These friends are more of her family than her real family which we find out later in the series.” One of those friends is the character Poison Ivy, voiced by Lake Bell, who is seen in the pilot giving Harley a pep talk to leave the Joker.
Harley Quinn will be the first Warner Bros/DC Comics episodic to contain the word ‘m*therf*cker’ unbleeped. It’s something viewers haven’t seen yet. Out of the gate, Schumacker knew this show would be very different from what fans usually saw from the DCTV world. “We do have our own rules on the show. From the get-go, the pitch was this show is from Harley’s perspective. So, on one hand, Gotham is going to be a lot brighter and more technicolor because this is through her eyes.” He went to note, “Also, the way that we portray the heroes, who are usually lionized in the films, we can have fun with them. Like Batman is a real buzz kill, and Superman tells dad jokes.”
Harley Quinn premieres Nov 29 on DC Universe.