Harley Quinn has found her girl gang.
Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Jurnee Smollett-Bell are joining Margot Robbie in Birds of Prey, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.
The actors won the roles after several rounds of chemistry reads and screen testing that also included Gugu Mbatha-Raw, who starred in Belle and appeared in Ava DuVernay’s A Wrinkle in Time; Margaret Qualley (The Leftovers); and Cristin Milioti (Black Mirror, How I Met Your Mother), among several others.
Winstead will play the Huntress, a longtime Batman character.
Smollett-Bell will play Black Canary, who is an expert fighter that is known for her “canary cry.” The character has traditionally been white in the comics, but Warner Bros. is casting diverse faces reflective of today’s moviegoing audience.
The DC film is slated to open Feb. 7, 2020, and will see Robbie reprise her Suicide Squad role as Harley Quinn. Cathy Yan is directing.
Winstead has a long list of credits with Sky High and Final Destination 3 among her early appearances. In recent years, the actress has been gaining strong notices for starring in thrillers such as 10 Cloverfield Lane and TV’s Fargo. She recently wrapped a role opposite Will Smith in Ang Lee’s Gemini Man.
Smollett-Bell had turns on HBO’s True Blood and WGN’s Underground. She is one of the stars of the upcoming HBO series Lovecraft Country.
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