“Harley Quinn” ran five seasons and 57 episodes, and it never once asked permission to be here. The show premiered on DC Universe on November 29, 2019, moved to HBO Max for season three and Max for season four, and ended on March 20, 2025. In between, it turned a break-up into a criminal empire, then turned that empire into a love story, and made both feel earned.
Trailer, via DC.
A break-up in Gotham City
The setup is clean. Harley Quinn has finally broken things off once and for all with the Joker. She sets out to make it on her own as the criminal Queenpin of Gotham City, with help from Poison Ivy and a ragtag crew of DC castoffs.
That crew matters more than the logline suggests. It includes Poison Ivy, Clayface, Doctor Psycho, King Shark and Sy Borgman. These are not sidekicks. They are the show’s comic engine, and they carry whole episodes on their backs.
The show is an adult animated superhero black comedy, based on the DC Comics character created by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm. It is written and executive-produced by Justin Halpern, Patrick Schumacker and Dean Lorey. That trio keeps the tone steady across all five seasons, which is rarer than it sounds.
Kaley Cuoco and Lake Bell carry the center
Kaley Cuoco voices Harley Quinn. Lake Bell voices Poison Ivy. The two are the spine of the series, and the writing knows it.
The supporting cast is deep in a way that reads like a flex. Alan Tudyk plays both Joker and Clayface. Ron Funches is King Shark. J. B. Smoove is Frank the Plant. Jason Alexander is Sy Borgman. Wanda Sykes is the Queen of Fables. Giancarlo Esposito is Lex Luthor. Natalie Morales is Lois Lane. Jim Rash is Riddler.
Diedrich Bader reprises his role from “Batman: The Brave and the Bold” as Batman. Tony Hale is Dr. Psycho. Christopher Meloni is James Gordon. Rahul Kohli voices Scarecrow. Sanaa Lathan is Catwoman, depicted as African-American. Vanessa Marshall reprises Wonder Woman from “Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths” and “Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox.” Alfred Molina voices Mr. Freeze.
Charlie Adler served as additional voice director, with Schumacker and Lorey as voice directors.
- Harley Quinn — Kaley Cuoco
- Poison Ivy — Lake Bell
- Joker and Clayface — Alan Tudyk
- King Shark — Ron Funches
- Dr. Psycho — Tony Hale
- James Gordon — Christopher Meloni
- Batman — Diedrich Bader
From villain to something else
The arc is the thing. Harley wants to make a name for herself in Gotham City’s criminal underworld, starting with her own crew. Along the way she confronts her troubled past, builds the self-confidence to shake off the Joker’s influence, and lands on an identity of her own.
Then the show does something smarter. It shifts its main storyline onto the relationship between Harley and Ivy. The two met in Arkham Asylum, back when Harley was Dr. Harleen Quinzel and Ivy was her therapist. Their friendship deepens over the series. They eventually realize they have feelings for each other, despite Ivy’s initial insecurity and her engagement to Kite Man.
The resolution of that triangle is the hinge of the whole series. Harley proves her love for Ivy through acts that put Ivy first. Kite Man, rather than fight it, steps aside so Ivy can be happy. By the end of season two, Harley and Ivy are a couple.
Over later seasons, the pair work through what a healthy romantic relationship looks like — mutual support, honesty, self-determination. That is the part that separates “Harley Quinn” from most superhero animation. It does not treat the romance as a reward at the end. It treats it as the ongoing subject.
As the series progresses, more DC characters gain a bigger role, primarily the members of the Bat Family and the members of the Legion of Doom, as Harley and Ivy figure out their respective goals regarding those affiliations. Harley realizes she wants to help people rather than hurt them. Ivy discovers the true potential of her superpowers and develops a social conscience.
What the seasons actually did
| Season | Platform | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| First and second | DC Universe | Original home of the series |
| Third | HBO Max | Platform move |
| Fourth | Max | Platform move |
| Fifth | Max | Premiered January 16, 2025 |
A standalone holiday-themed special episode premiered on February 9, 2023. In November 2023, the series was renewed for a fifth season, which premiered on January 16, 2025. A spin-off, “Kite Man: Hell Yeah!”, premiered in July 2024.
The platform churn is worth naming plainly. DC Universe to HBO Max to Max is three homes for one show, and it is the kind of thing that usually kills momentum. “Harley Quinn” absorbed it without losing its footing, which says something about how self-contained its storytelling is.
The Margot Robbie question
Alongside the series order announcement, it was reported that the producers were expected to approach Margot Robbie, who portrays the character in the DC Extended Universe, to reprise the role. That was false.
In an interview after the season one release, Halpern went on record saying Robbie was kept in the loop, but she was never interested in playing the role since she was filming and producing “Birds of Prey” at the time. On October 3, 2018, it was announced that Cuoco would voice Harley Quinn and Lake Bell would voice Poison Ivy.
That is the right call, and the show proves it. Cuoco’s Harley is not a live-action performance translated to animation. It is built for the format, and it sets the register the rest of the cast plays against.
Where it lands
“Harley Quinn” earns its 8.2 out of 10 by refusing to be a joke delivery system with a plot stapled on. The comedy is real. The genres it claims — Action & Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Sci-Fi & Fantasy — are all actually present, not marketing boxes.
The show’s best decision is structural. It puts the Harley-and-Ivy relationship at the center of the main storyline rather than at the edges, and it lets that relationship be healthy. Mutual support, honesty, self-determination: those are the show’s stated terms, and it holds to them across seasons.
The second-best decision is the crew. Clayface, Doctor Psycho, King Shark, Sy Borgman and Frank the Plant give the series a bench it can rotate through when the A-plot needs air. That is how you get to 57 episodes without repeating yourself.
The weakness is sprawl. As the Bat Family and the Legion of Doom take on bigger roles, the show widens its focus. Some of that widening pays off. Some of it reads as the series looking for somewhere new to put its attention after it already solved its central question.
And it did solve it. Harley breaking from the Joker, building an identity, then choosing to help rather than hurt — that arc is complete, and the show knows it. Five seasons is the right length for a story that actually ends.
What matters most here is that “Harley Quinn” treated its audience as adults without treating adulthood as a synonym for cruelty. It is a black comedy that likes its characters. That combination is harder to pull off than the body count suggests.
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