Things We Saw Today: ‘Harley Quinn: The Animated Series’ Survives HBO Max Animation Purge

After weeks and weeks of bad news from HBO Max and their parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, there’s finally something worth celebrating. Despite cutting back most of its animation department, and laying off almost 100 people, HBO Max renewed Harley Quinn: The Animated Series for a fourth season. Now halfway through its third season, the very adult show began as a DC Universe series before it moved to HBO Max for its most recent episodes.

In addition to the renewal, some leadership is being reshuffled as showrunners Patrick Schumacker and Justin Halpern will be replaced by series writer and consulting producer Sarah Peters. Before joining Harley Quinn, she produced shows like Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens (…), Ghosted, Master of None, and Nathan for You.

In a statement obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, Schumacker and Halpern said, “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.” They will both stay on as producers for the show.

By the time this comes out, it may no longer be HBO Max, but maybe something like Discovery Box Office or HBO Discovery Max Plus, seeing as the company’s Q2 investor call pointed to the two platforms (HBO Max and Discovery+) merging around the summer of 2023. Wherever the show is, we’ll seek out Harley and the gang!

(via The Hollywood Reporter, featured image: HBOMax)

Here are some other bits of news out there:

• Montana librarians were intimidated by threats, and bullet-ridden books returned. (via Flathead Beacon)
• Disney seeks to dethrone TCG’s Magic the Gathering and Pokémon with a new game coming in 2023. (via Polygon)
• The infamous Trevor Slattery to return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. (via Deadline)
• Beware local news and Redditors finding scammers (including well-known companies) trying to cash in on student loan relief. (via CBS 8 San Diego)

What did you see out there today, Mary Suevians?

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Alyssa Shotwell

(she/her) Award-winning artist and writer with professional experience and education in graphic design, art history, and museum studies. She began her career in journalism in October 2017 when she joined her student newspaper as the Online Editor. This resident of the yeeHaw land spends most of her time drawing, reading and playing the same handful of video games—even as the playtime on Steam reaches the quadruple digits. Currently playing: Baldur's Gate 3 & Oxygen Not Included.

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