This week, Margot Robbie said as nicely as she could that she is all but certainly done with the role of Harley Quinn, moving on from the part after three movies and having grown into probably the most famous actress in the world at the moment, after the success of Barbie.
Frequent Threads poster James Gunn answered a fan who brought up Robbie’s “I always wanted Harley to get passed on to other actresses to play” quote. While he’s not ruling it out himself, he lays out the reality of the situation:
“I haven’t talked to Margot about Harley for a long time. But I’d love to work with her again as Harley or as someone else. There are no plans at this time for anyone else to play Harley (I mean, other than in Todd’s movie or the animated show/s.)”
This answers the question I had about what the future of Harley was going to be if Robbie didn’t keep the role (which she had in Gunn’s Suicide Squad, so clearly they already click). The only announced DCU Batman project is The Brave and the Bold, which does not exactly seem like it would be a Harley-integrated story. I also assume that Gunn means that Harley Quinn also will not show up in The Batman 2, as even if that’s outside the DCU, he would obviously know that information. But the Joker, for instance, is another question. And it’s also open as to whether Robbie could show up as a different hero or villain, similar to how we’re likely to see Aquaman’s Jason Momoa as Lobo at some point.
Robbie leaving would leave the two versions of Harley he mentions, Lady Gaga’s version in Joker 2, and the animated Harley series where she’s voiced by Kaley Cuoco, which seems to have a license to continue on forever at this point (it probably helps that Gunn actually appeared in the show as himself previously, before he led DC).
It is a little weird the DCU has no fixed plans for Harley, given what a massively popular character she’s become. But perhaps the idea is that we’re suffering from a bit of Harley overload between those two projects, her three DCEU movies and she’s also about to star in WB’s Suicide Squad video game, voiced by classic Harley actress Tara Strong. It’s…a lot of Harley.
So, it may be time to take a little time off from Harley Quinn. And when we talk about Harley, we also think about Joker. It seems possible, if not likely, that The Batman 2 will bring Barry Keoghan’s Joker fully to life, but in the DCU itself? We have no idea, but again, it would be a bit odd for the iconic character not to appear at some point. But Superman and Lex Luthor first, I guess.
Follow me on Twitter, Threads, YouTube, and Instagram.
Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
Read the full article here
