At one time, Harley Quinn was going to be a big part of Arrow, starting with her cameo in Season 2 during an episode which was interestingly titled Suicide Squad. However, it turns out thanks to the David Ayer movie we went be seeing her character in Arrow anytime soon.
The episode in which Harley appeared saw Diggle recruited by Amanda Waller and A.R.G.U.S. to help stop an evil warlord whom he had previously met during his time in Afghanistan. To take down the baddie, he had to work with the rest of the squad including Deadshot, Bronze Tiger and Shrapnel.
How Do You Know There Were Bigger Plans for Harley?
At MCM Comic Con in London, Willa Holland (who plays Thea Queen) said that the producers won’t be able to explore Harley’s character further because she’s appearing in the Suicide Squad movie.
“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 have Harley in Arrow but it will never happen.”
Although, Executive Producer Mark Guggenheim did say during an interview with Collider that Harley’s appearance was strictly an “easter egg,” and that’s all it was supposed to be.
“I want to manage expectations with respect to Harley Quinn. She was always intended to be an Easter egg. I don’t want people to go in with incorrect expectations and walk away from Episode 16 disappointed. But there is an element to the Easter egg that was not spoiled by the promo, that I think people will find a lot of fun.”
Guggenheim also mentioned meeting with DC to “find out where the lines are and which characters are available or not available,” to be used in Arrow.
Either way, it’s a shame we won’t be seeing Harley on the screen more. There’s plenty of wiggle room for Arrow’s producers to show one version while David Ayer shows another. I guess DC isn’t ready to greenlight that sort of thing yet.
