Girls Rule

Girls Rule is an American animated television series created by Chris McKay based on the Gotham City Sirens comic books. Mckay serve as showrunner and executive producer along with Dan Lin, Roy Lee and Sam Register. 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. The series stars the voices of Jenny Slate, Zoë Kravitz and Riki Lindhome.

The series premiered on October 28, 2022 on the HBO Max streaming service and received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised the animation, voice acting, and soundtrack, but criticized it for being overstuffed and for its plot. Immediately upon its release, the series amassed a dedicated, large, and international fanbase. In November 15, 2022, the series was renewed for a second season, to be released in 2024.

Premise
Harley Quinn, after her break with the Joker, only has the option of living with Poyson Ivi and Catwoman, who were also kicked out of the gang. As certain events unfold, the three of them begin to strengthen a friendship and watch their backs, becoming the Gotham City Sirens.

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.

Episodes
Girls Rule consists of a season with 7 episodes with a duration of 35 to 57 minutes. The complete series was released in HBO Max on October 28, 2022.

Season 2 (2024)
The second season is set to premiere on 2024.

Development
Girls Rule was created by Chris Mckay, who initially announced that he was working on an undisclosed project in early 2018. On May 29, 2018, it was reported that an animated television series, based on DC Comics and Lego, was in development in Warner Bros. Pictures, with Mckay also serving as executive producer alongside Dan Lin and Roy Lee. Mckay, who previously worked on Lego Batman, prepared a script that would become the series' pilot episode, along with a multi-draft book to help pitch the project. On November 11, 2018, it was announced that the series had been greenlit, as a 7-episode order. Sam Register joined as executive producer, with Mckay writing and directing all episodes for the first season.

Mckay, who began work on the series in late 2017, wanted to expand the Batman character's mythology into another kind of story in the animated format. The series was originally known as Mysteries in Gotham, as the plot was to be an anthology series based on the Elseworlds comics. After deciding to change the narrative of the series to focus on a group of villains, Mckay felt he could now play more with character development, which they couldn't really imagine with a standalone type of plot. The Gotham City Sirens were cast as leads immediately after that, as a team with an influential scheme, female characters in popular culture, and chemistry that Mckay described as perfect for the show. A new title had to be devised and initially a long list of possible alternatives was proposed. Girls Rule came about after Mckay reviewed various promotional artwork for Lego Batman based on the supervillains team, although at the time there was still discussion about the choice of title.

After the show was announced, it was revealed that it would have a mid-2021 release in early April 2019. At that point, writing for the series had been completed, the casting process was about to begin, and Shane Acker had joined as co-director. However, following the Covid-19 pandemic, production was temporarily put on hold, pushing the series back to an October 2022 release date on the HBO Max streaming service like an HBO Max Original. On November 15, 2022, it was announced that Girls Rule had been renewed for an eight-episode second season, set to premiere in 2024. Prior to the renewal, Mckay had begun work on a first script, saying "The story itself is developed with Season 2 in mind, so if another season comes out, it could be a slightly more interesting and expanded story."

Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds an approval rating of 81% based on 51 critic reviews, with an average rating of 6.8/10. The website's critical consensus reads, ""Funny and mind-blowing, but a little tired and lacking the humor you'd expect, Girls Rule is a nice homage to the Batman stories with a perfect story to pass the time." Metacritic gave the series a weighted average score of 70 out of 100 based on 10 critic reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".