Harley Quinn is an American adult animated black comedy superhero 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 adventures of Harley Quinn and her partner Poison Ivy after leaving her boyfriend, the Joker.

Harley intends to make a name for herself in Gotham City's criminal underworld, starting with the formation of her own crew, which consists of her best friend Poison Ivy, Clayface, Doctor Psycho, King Shark, and Sy Borgman.

[1] During her attempts to prove herself as a competent villain, Harley faces her troubled past, gains self-confidence that helps her abolish the Joker's influence on her, and finds an autonomous identity.

Having met in Arkham Asylum when Harley was Dr. Harleen Quinzel and Ivy's therapist, the two developed a strong friendship that gradually deepened over the course of the series.

Harley realizes she wants to help people rather than hurting them while Ivy discovers the true potential of her superpowers and develops a social conscience.

With Batgirl's computer skills, they hack the ozone laser and blow up LexCorp, Wayne Enterprises, Veronica Cale's company, and the Legion of Doom while Steppenwolf sends Luthor to Apokolips as punishment.

Three days later, with Superman regaining his powers and the Moon restored, Bruce is released from prison and becomes Batman again while Harley and Ivy form a new team with Barbara and Catwoman called the Gotham City Sirens.

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.

[43] 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.

[44] 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".

[39] At DC FanDome 2021, Harley, King Shark, and Kite Man previewed some animatic footage from the third season, and announced it would be coming to HBO Max "sometime in 2022".

Tour by Tee Franklin (author), Max Sarin (cover art, penciller, inker), and Marissa Louise (colorist), in which Harley takes Ivy on a honeymoon where they face friends they've betrayed, their own feelings about how season 2 ended, and a few villains and heroes along the way.

[47] 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 Kite Man: Hell Yeah!.

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.

[32] Other characters expected to be featured in the series included Joker, Poison Ivy, Sy Borgman, Doctor Psycho, Malice Vundabar, King Shark, and Clayface.

Additional voice actors in the series include Alan Tudyk as Joker and Clayface,[4] 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,[3] Diedrich Bader reprising his role from Batman: The Brave and the Bold as Batman himself,[7] Tony Hale as Dr. Psycho[3] and Christopher Meloni as James Gordon.

[61] In the DC Universe, Harley Quinn (Dr. Harleen Quinzel) and Poison Ivy (Dr. Pamela Isley) started as friends.

[63] It was not until the 2013 Amanda Connor and Jimmy Palmiotti's Harley Quinn comic series where they are shown in a romantic coupling instead of friendship.

[66][67] 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.

[75] 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.

[76] 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.

The website's critics consensus states, "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.

— Harley Quinn graduates from a ribald spoof into one of the most heartening additions to the DC canon in a diabolically clever and emotionally textured third season.

The website's critics consensus states, "Having settled into one of DC's most dependably entertaining series, Harley Quinn continues to be funny, quirky, and romantic.

The website's critics consensus reads, "Harley Quinn continues to grow, love and kill its way to the audiences' heart, proving it can't go wrong with a formula this good.

"[31] 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.

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).