Harley Quinn Valentine’s Day Special Casts Abbott Elementary Stars as Hawkman and Hawkgirl

DC’s Harley Quinn: A Very Problematic Valentine’s Day Special is extending its meta-winking fun all the way to Abbott Elementary, as Quinta Brunson and Tyler James Williams have been announced as voicing Hawkgirl and Hawkman in the special. Brunson and James will reportedly only have a “brief cameo” where Hawkgirl and Hawkman explain how they fell in love. 

“As a Harley Quinn fan, I’m thrilled to lend my voice to the special and to team up with my Abbott Elementary creative partners, Justin Halpern and Patrick Schumacker and co-star Tyler James Williams for this fun episode,” Brunson said in a statement. 

As Brunson indicated, Justin Halpern and Patrick Shcumacker are the team that executive produce Abbott Elementary and “developed” Harley Quinn’s animated series – meaning they are behind two of the more successful comedic series on TV/streaming right now. Abbott Elementary just won three 2023 Golden Globes Awards, with Bruson and Williams both winning for “Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy” and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical-Comedy or Drama Television Series,” respectively. Abbott also won the Golden Globe for “Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy”. Harley Quinn beat all odds of the Warner Bros. Discovery merger to become one of the few DC TV properties to get another seasonal renewal. 

Tyler James Williams said that  “Harley Quinn is such a brilliant series and it is an honor to lend my voice to this special. I think the cameo is something both Abbott Elementary and DC fans will enjoy.”

As Williams hints, the real sly meta-joke with this casting has to do with the characters that Brunson and Williams play in Abbott Elementary. The series is an Office-style mockumentary about a public school in inner-city Philadelphia; Brunson’s idealistic teacher Janine Teagues and Williams’ reluctant substitute teacher Gregory Eddie are the ‘Jim and Pam’ of the show – in a romantic story arc that is still very much unresolved. So the fact that Harley Quinn will have the two actors shipped before Abbott is going to be a trip for fans of the show to see and hear. 

Harley Quinn stars Kaley Cuoco as Harley Quinn and Lake Bell as Poison Ivy. Additional voice work is done by Alan Tudyk, Matt Oberg, James Wolk, Natalie Morales, Chris Diamantopoulos, James Adomian, Jim Rash, Vanessa Marshall, Janet Varney, Rachel Dratch, Leila Birch, Josh Helman, Casey Wilson, Michael Ironside, and others.

Harley Quinn: A Very Problematic Valentine’s Day Special will start streaming on HBO Max on February 9th.

Source: Deadline