Remember that tiny Harley Quinn cameo in Arrow's second season? When Diggle was working with the Suicide Squad, viewers caught a tiny glimpse of Harley locked in an ARGUS cell, with the back of her head (with pigtails, of course) viewable for a few seconds. It turns out the CW was planning an entire Harley Quinn opus in the CW-verse... and that their plans were shut down when DC Comics (and Warner Bros) descended to tell them "no."
Here's what happened: Willa Holland, who plays Thea Queen on Arrow (and will be joining Team Arrow in full as Speedy- or Red Arrow, maybe- next season), commented on Arrow's Harley Quinn cameo. "We had big plans for Harley. But, I guess something came down from DC execs that told us to shut it down. I mean we had that tease with the pigtails and the ARGUS outfit but, we'll never see it. We would love to Harley in Arrow but it will never happen."
Holland doesn't say outright why DC axed the CW's Harley Quinn, but it seems pretty obvious- they want audiences to focus on the Harley Quinn portrayed by Margot Robbie in next year's Suicide Squad film. The same thing seems to have happened with Deadshot- Arrow killed off their version of Deadshot, played by Michael Rowe, in the show's third season, with the producers explaining that their version of the character would not be coming back.
Does this mean the end of the Suicide Squad on the CW? If higher-ups are nixing Harley Quinn and (potentially) Deadshot, it would make sense that they wouldn't want the Suicide Squad name used at all. Although, perhaps Arrow wouldn't even need it in the show's fourth season, which seems to be a departure from the first three (the CW touted this month's season finale as a quasi-series finale, with a very different show to follow). Hopefully the show can still think up some terrific Harley Quinn-less storylines when Arrow returns this fall.
Join the Conversation