Key Takeaways
- James Gunn says he’ll almost certainly bring Harley Quinn into the DCU and would “bend over backwards” to make Margot Robbie’s version fit if she wants to return.
- Gunn doesn’t know whether Robbie wants to reprise the role and says he might cast someone else if she passes.
- On The Suicide Squad: Is It Canon?, Gunn also floated Deadshot’s DCU debut and a Polka-Dot Man prequel, while saying Viola Davis’s Waller series never earned a green light but could still move forward.
James Gunn is ready to make room for Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn in the DC Universe—if the actress wants back in.
On a new episode of his podcast, the DC Studios co-head said that Harley as a character is all but locked in for his universe.
"I don't know where Margot's head is with all of this. Harley is a character I'm almost certainly going to use in the DCU, and if Margot wants to play her, then I'll bend over backwards to explain that in the world,” he said around the 28:40 mark. “But if she doesn't, then I might go with somebody else where I don't have to be attached to what happens to Harley in this movie."
He made the comments on a special installment of The Suicide Squad: Is It Canon?, answering fan questions about which characters carry over into his new universe alongside Peacemaker co-stars Jennifer Holland and Steve Agee.
Holland noted that Robbie's fame has grown since 2016's Suicide Squad, and Gunn called her "one of my favorite actors to work with.” But he isn’t sure if she’s interested.
"I don't know if she wants to play Harley again,” he said. “She may be over that."
Robbie came back as Harley for 2020's Birds of Prey and played her again in Gunn's 2021 film, all within the now-ended DCEU. Since then, she has made Babylon, Barbie, and Wuthering Heights.
Elsewhere in the episode, Gunn said he'd like to bring Deadshot into the DCU eventually, revealed that a Polka-Dot Man prequel series has been discussed, and said Bloodsport hitting Superman with a kryptonite bullet could count as canon. He also updated fans on Viola Davis' Waller series.
"Viola would like to continue,” he said. “We were strongly developing a Waller show that we never greenlit because it didn't get to where we wanted it to be. That doesn't mean it's totally out of development."
