Margot Robbie explains how Birds of Prey will relate to Suicide Squad and James Gunn's The Suicide Squad

Harley Quinn behind bars in Birds of Prey — (Image credit: Warner Bros)

Don't call Birds of Prey a sequel. Despite Margot Robbie returning to cinemas as Harley Quinn from 2016's Suicide Squad, the upcoming movie has little to do with David Ayer's anitihero team-up.

"It's very much like the comic books where you pick up in a totally different place, and it doesn't directly link to what happened before," Robbie tells our sister publication Total Film magazine . "But at the same time it's not such a leap that you're like, 'Oh, what's going on?!'"

Director Cathy Yan adds that Birds of Prey is "definitely a standalone movie" with fleeting connections to Suicide Squad, such as Harley having the same mallet. "It was really fun to create our own movie, and to not feel like it had to be a sequel or a continuation of Suicide Squad," she says.

There is, however, still the question of how both Birds of Prey and the 2016 Suicide Squad will relate to James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad, which is heading to cinemas in 2021. Another rulebook-shredder, the movie will play fast and loose with standard sequel convention. Robbie describes that film as another different ‘iteration’ that won’t be a direct follow-on, much like how comics would chop and change.

“Tonally, David Ayer’s world looks different to [Birds’] world, which will look different to James’s world," she says. "So, no, there’s not a direct connection. But like the comics, it doesn’t cancel out one or the other.”

Margot Robbie behind the scenes of Birds of Prey — (Image credit: Warner Bros)

Robbie, Yan and the cast speak in detail about the movie with Total Film magazine for the latest issue’s cover feature. The new issue hits shelves on December 20. Birds of Prey opens in cinemas on February 7.

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Total Film's Birds of Prey subscriber-only cover — (Image credit: Warner Bros/Total Film)

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Matt Maytum is the former Editor of Total Film magazine. Over the past decade, Matt has worked in various roles for TF online and in print, including at GamesRadar+. Bucket-list-ticking career highlights have included reporting from the set of Tenet and Avengers: Infinity War, as well as covering Comic-Con, TIFF and the Sundance Film Festival.