Posted in: HBO, Preview, streaming, TV | Tagged: Batman, bruce wayne, harley quinn, hbo max, season 3

Harley Quinn Showrunners on Batman Breaking Bad: "It Was Scary"

Just before August crawled into September and passed out, we learned that Patrick Schumacker & Justin Halpern's Kaley Cuoco & Lake Bell-starring Harley Quinn would be back for a fourth season. But with a new season comes changes, as Schumacker & Halpern hand over the showrunner responsibilities to writer & consulting producer Sarah Peters (with the duo staying on as executive producers). And after the events of the Season 3 finale, "The Horse and The Sparrow," let's just say that there's going to be a lot to build from. So as fans begin speculating on what all of this could mean moving forward, Schumacker & Halpern explain how it felt to portray Bruce Wayne/Batman in (how can we say this?)… a "less-than-favorable light"? At this point, we're throwing on the "MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!" sign and throwing down an image spoiler buffer. See you on the other side for more…

Okay, even with the warning above? We're going to go light on the details. Suffice it to say, Bruce was the season's big bad… and like most big bads, his intentions were tragically understandable. But then there's always the problem with the execution, and when has resurrecting loved ones from the dead ever ended well? But even with Bruce now behind bars (I would be more worried about the tax stuff because that's what took down Al Capone), we're left feeling that Bruce might finally be on his way to something healthier (especially with Harley continuing as his therapist).  So you have the Joker as mayor, Harley as the newest member of the Bat-family, and Bruce Wayne in jail… not exactly your average take on the Batman universe.

"It was scary. It hadn't been done before, but we had always pitched the show from the beginning as 'This is Gotham City through Harley's eyes.' The representation of all of the characters, especially the heroes, is going to be construed through her prism. So Bruce/Batman was always going to be a wet blanket, and he was always going to be an antagonist, but not treated like a villain. So unveiling Bruce as the actual big bad of the season was our biggest swing and the thing I was most excited about," Schumacker revealed to EW about the decision to have Batman break bad this season. "It was scary to think about it, and we always think about possible fan reactions, but once we got into it, it felt really right for Harley, as the representative of the show, to treat this one-percenter as a villain. I think it paid off. A lot of people have embraced it in a really positive way."

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