The First Live-Action Harley Quinn Was Played By A Twin Peaks Star In A Forgotten TV Pilot

The Batman villain Harley Quinn made her debut on the "Batman: The Animated Series" episodes "Joker's Favor" (September 11, 1992), where she was voiced by actress Arleen Sorkin. The character was envisioned as a clown-like moll for the Joker, and was given a ditzy personality and a broad Noo Yawk accent. She proved to be so popular that she was eventually incorporated into Batman comic books, and soon grew to have titles of her own. Over the years, Harley Quinn has appeared in multiple TV shows and movies, most recently played in live-action by Lady Gaga in "Joker: Folie à Deux." 

Fun trivia: Harley Quinn was actually preceded by a very, very similar character called Prank (Corinne Bohrer), a clown-like moll to a very Joker-like villain named the Trickster (Mark Hamill) on a 1991 episode of "The Flash." Whether or not the makers of "Batman: The Animated Series" were aware of Prank is a matter of speculation. 

The first live-action rendition of Harley Quinn appeared in the short-lived "Batman" spin-off series "Birds of Prey," which aired on the WB from October 9, 2002, to February 19, 2003. That series was set in the near future of the Batman universe, and followed the 21-year-old Helena Kyle, a.k.a. the Huntress (Ashley Scott), a secret lovechild of Batman and Catwoman. Batman and the Joker don't appear in "Birds of Prey" (except in briefly-glimpsed flashbacks), but Alfred (Ian Abercrombie) shows up from time to time. 

In her non-superheroine life, Helena is a troubled young woman constantly in trouble with the law, and has been ordered to see a shrink named Dr. Harleen Quinzel, better known as ... Harley Quinn. Helena doesn't know it, but Dr. Quinzel has been orchestrating widespread revenge for how Gotham treated her boyfriend, the Joker. She is played in the show by "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" alum Mia Sara. 

Prior to Sara's casting, however, "Twin Peaks" actress Sherilyn Fenn played Dr. Quinzel in the unaired "Birds of Prey" pilot. Footage of Fenn as Harley Quinn has been posted on Twitter/X. 

"Birds of Prey," as mentioned, did not last long, and is very much a product of its time. It's ostensibly set in the same universe as the Tim Burton/Joel Schumacher "Batman" films, but that assertion is only based on the use of the Val Kilmer-era Batman costume as seen in flashbacks (a costume that Kilmer notoriously hated). The Joker is clearly not the Jack Nicholson version, and when audiences hear the Joker speaking in flashbacks, he is voiced by Mark Hamill, the actor from "Batman: The Animated Series." 

Helena is joined in her heroics by Oracle (Dina Meyer), a wheelchair-bound computer expert who once served Gotham City as Batgirl, but who was near-fatally shot by the Joker. The pair had a gal Friday in the form of Dinah (Rachel Skarsten), a teenage runaway with latent psychic powers. (More fun trivia: "Birds of Prey" features an early performance from actor Aaron Paul, eventual star of "Breaking Bad.")

Harley Quinn was always going to be a part of "Birds of Prey," and the original pilot episode starred Sherilyn Fenn in the role. The original pilot never aired on TV, but it was available as a special feature on the "Birds of Prey" DVD box set. One can also easily find the pilot online and take in Fenn's performance in its entirety. Fenn was very busy in 2002, appearing in the feature film "Swindle," as well as in episodes of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," "Dawson's Creek," and "Watching Ellie." "Birds of Prey" was just another feather in her cap. 

But as mentioned, when "Birds of Prey" went to series, Fenn turned the role down, and Mia Sara stepped in. 

In 2014, the A.V. Club was finally able to talk to Fenn about playing Harley Quinn in "Birds of Prey," and she only remembers how fun it was to shoot. The surrounding circumstances for her refusal to continue with the role are, however, a little hazy. She said: 

"[T]hat was good fun! I don't remember what happened. It might've had to do with some kind of financial situation, because I thought it was fun. It was easy to play. It seems like I had to go somewhere after I filmed it, but ... I don't remember! Sometimes I'm like Dory from 'Finding Nemo'. I can't remember facts. 'What happened?' Something happened, though, because I know we had a good time filming it. It was probably money or something." 

Fenn did, at the very least, get to kick a guy in the face. She would have been fine as the first live-action Harley Quinn, but her refusal to go to series left Mia Sara with that honor. The second live-action Harley Quinn wouldn't come until the 2016 David Ayer film "Suicide Squad," which starred Margot Robbie in the role. (Well, not counting a very brief cameo that Tara Strong (voice) and Cassidy Alexa (body) made in an episode of "Arrow" in 2014.) Robbie would also play Harley in two additional feature films. 

The most recent animated iteration of the Harley Quinn character was played by Jamie Chung on the excellent and underrated "Batman: Caped Crusader," while another animated version of the character has led her own series for years and has been voiced by Kaley Cuoco. The character persists in comics, however, and it will likely only be a (short) matter of time before she appears in live-action again.