Harley Quinn, the hit animated series featuring Kaley Cuoco as the voice of the Batman villain, was renewed for a fourth season at HBO Max on Wednesday. The series will also gain a new showrunner, with Sarah Peters taking the reigns. The news comes as animated shows have been hit hard by the recent decisions from the new Warner Bros. Discovery leadership.
Harley Quinn is now in the midst of its third season, which will finish up on Sept. 15. New episodes are released on HBO Max every Thursday. Peters, whose credits include Master of None, Workaholics, and Nathan for You, was promoted from consulting producer to executive producer and showrunner. Justin Halpern and Patrick Schumacker, who developed the series with Dean Lorey, previously served as showrunner.
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The renewal is great news for animation fans who have been horrified to see the medium hit hard by Warner Bros. Discovery, despite Warner Bros.’s storied history with animation. Some of the most recent cancelations include the highly-anticipated Batman: Caped Crusader, which was also targeted toward adult audiences and featured J.J. Abrams, The Batman director Matt Reeves, and Batman: The Animated Series creator Bruce Timm as executive producers. Warner Bros. Discovery also dropped the Christmas comedy Merry Little Batman. These projects are reportedly still in production, but WBD is looking for a new home.
Harley Quinn launched on the now-defunct DC Universe platform in November 2019. After DC Universe shut down, the show moved to HBO Max. Season 3 debuted in July and ends on Sept. 15. The series’ all-star voice cast also includes Lake Bell as Poison Ivy, Alan Tudyk as the Joker and Clayface, Diedrich Bader as Batman, Ron Funches as King Shark, Christopher Meloni as Commissioner James Gordon, and J.B. Smoove as Frank the plant. The show has earned near critical acclaim and a spinoff featuring Kite-Man called Noonan’s is still in development.
“We are ecstatic that HBO Max wants the story of Harley and Ivy to continue,” Schumacker and Halpern said in a joint 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.”
“Three seasons down and I can’t even begin to think about the new levels of chaos and trouble that Harley, Ivy, and the gang can get into with a fourth season,” Peter Girardi, Executive Vice President of Alternative Programming at Warner Bros. Animation, added. “But I’m grateful to our partners at HBO Max for continuing this insane ride with us so we can all find out.”
