Christina Ricci Has Been Cast As Harley Quinn
Christina Ricci is the new Harley Quinn and she is preparing to tell the story of Dr. Harleen Quinzel in her own words.
There is a new Harley Quinn in town: Christina Ricci. The goth icon has been cast as DC Comics fan favorite Harley Quinn in a Spotify narrative podcast, which will delve into her backstory. The podcast is titled Harley Quinn & The Joker: Sound Mind, and has been developed by Eli Horowitz, who will write and direct the series. This will be Christina Ricci’s first major podcast, a medium that is increasingly drawing big-name stars and leaning towards narrative-driven series. Given that Harley Quinn has rapidly become one of tentpole characters of the DC Extended Universe, this is a pretty good move for everyone involved.
According to Variety, Christina Ricci will be starring as Harley Quinn alongside Billy Magnussen as the Joker and Justin Hartley as Bruce Wayne/Batman. The story will focus on the character’s origin, beginning with Christina Ricci working as a psychologist in Arkham Asylum, when she was known as Doctor Harleen Quinzel. After encountering the mysterious and charismatic “Patient J,” she develops a relationship with the patient that leads them both to dark ends (well, given it’s the Joker, he probably had some dark stuff going on). Harley Quinn & The Joker: Sound Mind is being marketed as being the anti-heroine’s story from her own perspective, so we will likely be listening to Christina Ricci as she is being driven to madness.
Harley Quinn & The Joker: Sound Mind’s showrunner Eli Horowitz is known as the writer of the acclaimed podcast Homecoming, which starred Oscar Isaac, Catherine Keener, David Schwimmer, David Cross, and Amy Sedaris. Homecoming was also adapted as a streaming series on Amazon Prime Video, starring Julia Roberts and Bobby Cannavale, so Christine Ricci seems in pretty good hands here.
The Christina Ricci-led podcast is the second original series from Spotify utilizing their recent deal with Warner Bros (which owns DC Comics). The first podcast starred Black Panther’s Winston Duke as Bruce Wayne in Batman Unburied and was an enormous success for the streaming platform. It is no surprise that Spotify would want to follow up that series with another highly popular Batman-adjacent character. Harley Quinn was introduced as a throwaway comic relief in Batman: The Animated Series, but quickly became a recurring character and eventually debuted in comics canon with Batman: Harley Quinn in 1999. Margot Robbie has played a live-action version of the character since 2016, while Mia Sara played Harley Quinn in the 2002 WB series Bird of Prey. Kaley Cuoco currently voices the character in the popular HBO Max animated show Harley Quinn.
Christina Ricci is joining solid company by taking on the role of Harley Quinn for the podcast. Currently, Christina Ricci stars on the Showtime sleeper hit show Yellowjackets as the terrifyingly perky nurse/cannibal Misty. The show was renewed for a second season after enormous critical acclaim and consistently rising viewer numbers. The second season of Yellowjackets is currently in production, so it seems we may be getting a double dose of Christina Ricci as Harley Quinn and as Misty sometime in the near future.
