Posted in: HBO, Preview, streaming, TV | Tagged: harley quinn, hbo max, kaley cuoco, preview, season 3

Harley Quinn: Patrick Schumacker Shares Excellent S03 Production News

So the last time we checked in with Patrick Schumacker & Justin Halpern's Kaley Cuoco (The Flight Attendant)-starring HBO Max animated series Harley Quinn, it was the middle of February and Alan Tudyk aka Joker was explaining how "Eagly" from James Gunn's Peacemaker had found its way into his recording sessions for the third season. Well, less than a month later and Schumacker is sharing some good news about how things are rolling. Along with an image of Harley and Poison Ivy, the writer/producer also confirmed that the first audio mix of the season is officially finished. Which is a nice way of saying that the streaming series is one major step closer to hitting streaming screens.

Here's a look at Schumacker's tweet from earlier today confirming the excellent production news:

During a prior interview, series co-creators & EPs Schumacker and Halpern discussed what lies ahead for Harley and the gang, the move to WarnerMedia's streaming service and if they would bring an animated Harley to the big screen. With the first two seasons examining Harley breaking away from a literal toxic relationship and establishing her own identity, viewers were left with their pseudo-hero finally realizing that she wants to explore a real relationship with Poison Ivy. For Halpern, the idea of Harley being in a relationship that works opens up a number of narrative possibilities. "So, I think in the third season, the general idea we've been talking about… And the room hasn't even started yet. These are just conversations between Dean Lorey, and myself and Patrick," Halpern explained. "[But] the idea [is], when you've mostly been in toxic and bad relationships your whole life, how do you then be in a good one? How does the baggage that you bring from all these other relationships affect the relationship you're in that you really want to work?"

That means more opportunity for viewers to learn Ivy's story: "We spent two years digging into Harley, and Ivy was her own character, but her stories were told mostly in relation to Harley. So, I think in this third season, it'd be interesting to flip that, and dig deeper into Ivy and her life, and tell some stories from her point of view. So, we're excited to be able to do that because it feels completely new—somewhere to go that we haven't gone, that isn't going to make the audience feel like, "We saw two seasons of that. What the f**k is this?"."

Schumacker also says that they're looking to give Gordon some more screen time and backstory, especially in lieu of what is currently going on in the real world right now regarding policing and law enforcement. "Yeah. You've probably seen [this]…It's made its way around Twitter, for sure, the Zoom that the LAPD and Mayor Garcetti put out for a sort of town hall, essentially, for Angelenos to come together and voice their criticisms of the LAPD and the Mayor's office," he said. "I tweeted out—and this was genuine—"I would love to open Season 3 on an actual Zoom, where the GCPD is just being berated by the city of Gotham for their ineptitude." [Laughs]

In many ways, just as Harley Quinn will be challenged to answer questions about herself that she's run away from up until now, Gordon will need to accept his past mistakes if he wants to do right by Gotham- assuming it's not too late. "It's like having Gordon deal with the reality of, policing in Gotham has completely failed, and him realizing, "What is this new system that we need to put in, in order to effectively police Gotham?" And is he even capable of it? Because the system is so f**ked up," Halpern explained. "Gotham's a terrible place to live. I mean, if you think of all of the cities in comic book lore, can you think of a worse major city to live in than Gotham? Like, it's just constantly under attack. And why does Metropolis look like this utopia, when Gotham is this total cesspool? So, being able to also dig into that, and have Gordon go on a journey within the third season, would be very fun."

Joining Cuoco on the animated series are Lake Bell (Wet Hot American Summer) as Dr. Pamela Isley/ Poison Ivy, Alan Tudyk (Doom Patrol) as The Joker, Ron Funches (Powerless) as Nanaue / King Shark, JB Smoove (Curb Your Enthusiasm) as Frank the Plant, Jason Alexander (Seinfeld) as Sy Borgman, and Wanda Sykes (Black-ish) as Tsaritsa / Queen of Fables. Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad) as Lex Luthor, Natalie Morales (Bojack Horseman), Jim Rash (Community) as Edward Nygma / Riddler, Rahul Kohli (iZombie) as Dr. Jonathan Crane / Scarecrow, Diedrich Bader (Veep) as Bruce Wayne / Batman, Tony Hale (Veep) as Dr. Edgar Cizko / Doctor Psycho, Christopher Meloni (Happy!) as Commissioner Jim Gordon, and Sanaa Lathan (Native Son) as Selina Kyle / Catwoman also star.

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