‘Gotham’s Ecco Was Largely Inspired by Harley Quinn in ‘Batman: The Animated Series’

Though she may not bear the name Harley Quinn, Gotham‘s Ecco has certainly taken on the identity of the iconic DC villain. From her clown-inspired outfit, to the pale paint on her skin, to her affinity for roller skates and the word “puddin,” Ecco has gone from Jeremiah’s lethal enforcer, to a frighteningly accurate portrayal of Harley Quinn.

Since Harley has become such a popular character in recent years, she’s got plenty of different iterations that Gotham could have used as inspiration for Ecco. However, when actress Francesca Root-Dodson started preparing to bring the character to live, she looked back to the original Harley from Batman: The Animated Series.

Well that, and she watched Suicide Squad to see how Margot Robbie nailed the modern version of Harley’s voice. But the style was all from OG animated Harley.

“I mean, I mostly was looking at the animated series, which I grew up watching, but I refreshed myself,” Root-Dodson told ComicBook.com. “And then I briefly looked at the movie. I had heard even before I was involved with Gotham the kind of controversy surrounding that [version of Harley]. I don’t what people’s opinions are, I was just aware that there was some controversy. So I wanted to go more to the original source material than that interpretation, but I did watch it.

“So I tried to familiarize myself, but then I just exposed myself to that material once, and then I didn’t look at it again. And mostly, I used it to find the voice. I love the animated series, but I felt like for Gotham, I wanted to not do quite the gangster moll voice, but I wanted to find something like a little more disturbing, little more disturbing and disturbed, but genuinely disturbed, not like a joke that’s put on. You know? So I used that, and I found a voice. And then once I found that, kind of everything else just fell into place.”

What do you think of Gotham‘s take on Harley Quinn? Do you think Ecco will take on the full mantra by the end of the series? Let us know in the comments!

New episodes of Gotham air on Thursday nights at 8 pm ET on FOX.

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