Girls Rule

Girls Rule is an American animated television series, created and written by Chris McKay for Cartoon Network and HBO Max; Mckay also serve as showrunner with Sam Register as executive producer along with Dan Lin and Roy Lee. Based on parts of "Gotham City Sirens", the series follows the group of Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy and Catwoman, as they survive in the criminal underworld after being kicked out of the Joker's gang and is part of the broader franchise. The series stars the voices of Jenny Slate, Zoë Kravitz and Riki Lindhome.

Girls Rule received a straight-to-series order in November 2019. The series premiered on October 23, 2022 with the first season consisting of seven episodes. The series received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised the animation, voice acting, and soundtrack, but criticized it for being overstuffed plot. Immediately upon its release, the series amassed a dedicated, large, and international fanbase. In November 21, 2022, the series was renewed for a second season, with Mckay returning as showrunner.

Main

 * Jenny Slate as Harley Quinn, the Joker's ex-girlfriend. She was abandoned and expelled by the mafia after betraying them in a strange event.
 * Zoë Kravitz as Catwoman, Joker's former smuggler and hacker. She, like many other henchmen, were also kicked out of the mob. Now it is limited and stealing in the streets with a knife.
 * Riki Lindhome as Poison Ivy, an expert doctor in silver. After directly attacking the Joker, she was forced to escape and hide. Later in the season he accepts a job at STAR Labs.
 * Rosario Dawson as Barbara Gordon / Batgirl, the newly-elected police commissioner of Gotham.
 * Will Arnett as Batman, a billionaire by day and superhero by night, who defends Gotham City from crime.
 * Nolan North as Thomas Elliot, also known as Hush, he is a supervillain hoping to take down Batman due to a childhood trauma.

Recurring

 * David Hayter as Boneblaster, a new supervillain from Gotham. He gets to have a few run-ins with the girls and develops a grudge against Catwoman before she defeats him.
 * Conan O'Brien as Riddler, a Gotham City criminal mastermind, he colludes with Hush in his plan until he betrays him. He ends up in Arkham Asylium after a confrontation.
 * Will Friedle as Maxwell Burton, a STAR Labs doctor who discovers Poison Ivy by investigating hidden files. After passing some incidents, both become boyfriends.
 * Héctor Elizondo as James Gordon, the retired police commissioner of Gotham and Barbara's father.
 * Jason Liebrecht as William, a bank manager who was robbed by Harley Quinn. Later he is one of those kidnapped by Elliot.
 * Griffin Burns as Tony, a bodyguard of the Joker.
 * Fred Stoller as Harold Allnut, a genius partner of Batman's for a long time. He is manipulated with pheromones to betray Batman, then redeems himself.
 * Kate Micucci as Clayface, one of Batman's villains, he is mind-controlled by Hush and joins as one of his henchmen, before escaping.
 * Billy Dee Williams as Two-Face, he briefly appears as a controlled ally of Hush.
 * Ralph Garman as Lowery Arnet, a scientist in charge at STAR Labs and the experiments performed there. He is remote and controlling with his employees.
 * Chris Hardwick as James Olsen, a Daily Planet television reporter.

Guest

 * Billy West as Alex, a Daily Planet interviewee
 * Patrick Warburton, as Orlando, a kidnapped.
 * Kath Soucie, as Miranda, a kidnapped.

Development
In November 2018, Chris Mckay, director of Lego Batman (2017), stated that he was developing with Warner Bros. a "potential spin-off series that would build heavily on material in DC Comics". By May 2019, was reported that he wanted to expand the mythology of the Batman character to another type of story in an animated format. The series was originally known as Mysteries in Gotham, as the plot was going to be an anthology series based on the Elseworlds comics. Sam Register joined as producer, with Mckay writing and directing all episodes for the first season. The project is a joint-venture production between Warner Animation Group and Animal Logic, who had provided the animation for the films in the franchise. In May 2019, Shane Acker joined as showrunner, directing 3 episodes of the first season. On November 11, 2019, it was announced that the series had been greenlit, as a 7-episode order, with a prokected release date of 2022.

The seven-episode first season reportedly had a production budget of nearly $90 million, while the marketing budget according to Deadline Hollywood exceeded $100 million, comparable to the budget of a blockbuster theatrical animated film. conventional. A second season was ordered on November 21, 2022.

Casting
In June 2019, Jenny Slate, Zoë Kravitz and Riki Lindhome were cast in the series, returning to their roles from the films. In July, Nolan North and David Hayter were added to the cast, in undisclosed supervillain roles with Will Arnett joining in August.

Release
Girls Rule had airing on HBO Max and Cartoon Network simultaneously as a premiere on October 21. The subsequent episodes premiered weekly on both networks.

Critical response
On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds an approval rating of 86% with an average rating of 8/10, based on 417 reviews. The site's critical consensus summary states: "Girls Rule is an exciting and addictive series, tied together by a thrilling ride to the finish line." On Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, the series has received a score of 79 out of 100 based on 32 critic reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Viewership
The show's premiere averaged 1.7 million viewers in its time slot, a number that rose to 5.5 million across multiple Sunday and Monday night broadcasts following its premiere on Cartoon Network. The first season averaged 1.9 million viewers, and by the season finale, which aired on November 25, ratings were up 16% to more than 2.2 million. The #LEGOGirlsRule hashtag was trending #1 in the US at the end of its run. In a December 2022 Variety analysis, it was found that Girls Rule not only engaged its target audience, but "hooked" viewers in the 18-25 age range, indicating higher traffic from the fourth episode "which led at least 70 percent of viewers who watched that episode to complete the show's entire first season."