Boom goes the dynamite. Gotham’s clown princess has defied impossible odds, thriving on a channel that’s currently on fire and ruled by a madman who hates cartoons. She has survived not just one streaming service switchover, but an upcoming second as well. HBO Max announced today Harley Quinn will officially be returning for a fourth season, on whatever HBO Max winds up being called by that point.
When we examined the odds of this show’s survival two weeks ago, we observed that its third season was one of HBO Max’s strongest current performers. I have to wonder if Harley Quinn would’ve gotten this renewal from the Zaslav Regime if it hadn’t been running at the exact time he rose to power, and had a chance to prove itself. It if had been between production seasons and dormant in the library, he might’ve looked at it, thought “if it doesn’t star Joanna Gaines it’s worthless” and chucked it away with the rest.
While Harls and Ives will be back, original showrunners Justin Halpern and Patrick Schumacker will not. In the downtime between seasons, they went off to ABC and struck it rich with the sitcom Abbott Elementary, and will now be devoting their full time to that series. Sarah Peters, staff writer since Season 1, will now be promoted to showrunner and will take the wheel for Season 4.
“We are ecstatic that HBO Max wants the story of Harley and Ivy to continue,” said Halpern and Schumacker in a public statement. “And we are equally thrilled that this next season will be in great hands with Sarah Peters as our showrunner and Ceci Aranovich overseeing animation production, as they have both greatly influenced the show with their brilliance since the beginning.”
Before we see Harley Quinn Season 4, we’ll get the first season of Noonan’s (temporary title), a spinoff centered around Kite Man and the titular bar he now runs. Golden Glider, introduced in Season 3 as KM’s new girlfriend, will play a role and Bane is said to show up frequently (good, he’s hilarious).
A new episode of Harley Quinn will premiere tomorrow (or tonight if you’re on the West Coast). The current season will stream its finale on September 15.
