“I’m more than just Joker’s girlfriend,” Harley Quinn said in the first trailer released at SDCC for her new animated series on DC Universe. The trailer was set to the tune of “We’re Going to Make it After All,” which older TV fans will recognize as the theme song for The Mary Tyler Moore Show. And thus, we got our first taste of the fun and independent Harley Quinn we can expect in the series, set to debut on the streaming service later this year.
This week, a behind-the-scenes featurette was dropped, giving a look at the voice actors who were tapped to bring these characters to life. You can watch the featurette below.
The title character will be voiced by Kaley Cuoco, who most know from her years as Penny on The Big Bang Theory. Harley’s wild dialogue is a far cry from Penny singing “Soft Kitty,” but when you hear her in the trailer, it’s easy to tell that Kaley nails the role. In the featurette, the producer says Haley came into it giving the craziest performance she could, and finding out where Harley would land from there.
Poison Ivy will be played by Lake Bell, who has done a lot of voice work along with onscreen acting. Most recently, you heard her voice as Veronica Fisk in Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse and Chloe in Secret Life of Pets (the original and the sequel). On TV, she can be seen starring alongside Dax Shepherd in Bless This Mess. It seems like there are a lot of fun scenes between Ivy and Harley. It will be great to see their dynamic.
Fresh off his run as Mr. Nobody in Doom Patrol, Alan Tudyk (who will always be remembered by fans everywhere as Wash from Firefly) brings the Joker to life in this series. It seems that Harley is setting out on her own and wants to be the top crime boss. Methinks Mr. J will not be in favor of this development.
Other actors included in the behind-the-scenes feature include Jim Rash (Dean Pelton from Community) as the Joker, Tony Hale (Arrested Development) as Mr. Phsycho, and prolific actor Diedrich Bader (he’s in too many things to list, but is currently on American Housewife) will play Batman.
Comedian Ron Funches will play King Shark, who some of you may have seen on a few episodes of The Flash.
“We love what we’re doing and we care about what we’re doing. We’re a bunch of nerds making it,” Funches said in the featurette.
And the stellar casting doesn’t stop there. Listed on IMDB but not interviewed in the video, the voice talent also includes: Jason Alexander (Seinfeld), Christopher Meloni (Law & Order SVU), Natalie Morales (Santa Clarita Diet), J.B. Smoove (Spider-Man: Far from Home) and Wanda Sykes (from too many amazing things to list).
James Wolk, star of the show Zoo and featured as Senator Keane in the upcoming Watchman series, will be the voice of Superman in Harley Quinn. Vanessa Marshall, who plays Black Canary on Young Justice, will voice Wonder Women in this series, while Sanaa Lathan from The Affair will be bringing Catwoman to life.
I’m probably most excited about Rahul Kohli playing the Scarecrow, though. I’m a big iZombie fan, and Kohli was amazing as Ravi. And the Scarecrow is one of my favorite villains.
Harley Quinn made her debut on an animated series in 1992 and has been a fan favorite ever since. Now that she’s returning with her own series and will be featured in the upcoming Birds of Prey movie, I’m excited to see where DC takes this character next.
And with an amazing cast like this, the animated series is going to be fun to watch. And judging by the language and blood spatter, DC once again shows that just because something is animated, it’s not necessarily for kids.
The new show premieres later this year, and as Harley Quinn says in the trailer: “Bring it on, bitches.”
