Margot Robbie talks Harley Quinn in The Suicide Squad: "She's always going to have more fun when she's in a group"

Harley Quinn in The Suicide Squad
(Image credit: Warner Bros./DC)

The Suicide Squad is focused on an unusual group of characters, involving fan favorite Harley Quinn, as well as more unconventional and lesser known names like King Shark, Peacemaker, and even Polka-Dot Man.

It's a bunch of people – and fish – that should never be in the same room together, let alone be recruited for a high-priority military assignment. That, however, should be a big part of the fun when the film hits the big screen in August.

During Total Film and GamesRadar+'s visit to The Suicide Squad set, Harley actor Margot Robbie explains why her character works best with a team.  

"Something I noticed about Harley from the start is she's always going to have more fun when she's in a group dynamic," says Robbie. "I've always said putting Harley on her own would be like putting a kid on a playground on their own. It's never going to be as fun as when it's populated with other kids to play with. [When she's] in a group you're always going to see the most come out of her personality because she's got people to play with and pick apart or fall in love with or backstab or whatever. She's always decided how she feels about the people around her and then acts accordingly, which is always unpredictable."

This is Robbie's third outing as Harley  – she first played the character in David Ayer's  Suicide Squad, which released back in 2016, then again in Cathy Yan's Birds of Prey in 2020.

The Suicide Squad follows the titular group of anti-heroes and villains on a quest to the fictional island of Corto Maltese. "There's recently been a military coup," producer Peter Safran tells us, "and on Corto Maltese there's a prison/medical experiment building called Jotunheim. Amanda Waller is sending the Suicide Squad into Corto Maltese to destroy Jotunheim before the leaders of the military coup discover the secrets that are inside there. That's the mission." 

The film releases in the US theatrically and simultaneously on HBO Max this August 6, and hits UK cinemas on July 30. For more about the mayhem headed our way, check out our full visit to The Suicide Squad set.

Richard is a freelancer journalist and editor, and was once a physicist. Rich is the former editor of SFX Magazine, but has since gone freelance, writing for websites and publications including GamesRadar+, SFX, Total Film, and more. He also co-hosts the podcast, Robby the Robot's Waiting, which is focused on sci-fi and fantasy.