Continuing the crushing stranglehold Warner Bros/DC has over their characters and their appearances on television and the movies, it seems Harley Quinn is the latest casualty in their desire to keep the movies and TV shows separate.

According to a recent interview with Willa Holland (who plays Thea Queen on ‘Arrow’), it seems ‘Arrow‘ had big plans for ARGUS, the Suicide Squad, and especially Harley Quinn, as evidenced by the girl with pigtails seen during Season 2  and the overt references to the character in the episode where Cupid is apprehended by Oliver Queen and company. However, as the ‘Suicide Squad’ movie got more public attention and decided to use Harley Quinn in a prominent role, it seems studio execs stepped in and told the show, in Holland’s words, to “cease and desist’ using the character, as they once again did not want a television show to confuse audiences with two versions of a character. Or for ‘Arrow’ to get to use her first, as they wanted the movie to be her first live action appearance. Or some other nonsensical reason to deny a great show a chance to use an exemplary character.

For all intents and purposes ‘Arrow’ season 3 had a lot of issues, villains that weren’t that memorable, a storyline that went all over the place, etc etc. I wonder how much of that was a result of the show having a great idea for the season, potentially with lots of ARGUS, Suicide Squad, and Harley Quinn as an important character, and then had the rug pulled out from under them by the studio execs. It would certainly help explain why a show that came into the season on such a high note struggled to find itself this season, and also why so many plots seemed to come out of nowhere, instead of following well laid plans as was the case during season 2.

Regardless, Warner Bros/DC needs to stop messing with its own properties. The CW DC universe is the best thing they’ve got right now (until the movies arrive, but even then people are skeptical), and they should not be hurting the shows just to enhance the films, especially when there’s no guarantee the movies will be profitable in the long run. For more information, check out the full interview with Holland below, and let us know your own thoughts on the matter in the comments.

Source: Screenrant