DC clearly had high hopes for Birds of Prey – (And The Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), to give it its full title – but unfortunately it fell short of commercial expectations when it released last February. Despite its warm critical reception, the studio wasn’t incentivized to fast-track a sequel to the all-female action ensemble flick. It’s currently unclear where Margot Robbie’s Harley will turn up next, after The Suicide Squad.
However, a new rumor claims that Warner Bros. may be moving ahead with a Birds of Prey spinoff featuring one of the Clown Princess’ allies from the film. Insider Daniel Richtman has shared that Jurnee Smollett-Bell may be about to get her own starring vehicle as Dinah Lance AKA Black Canary. It’s currently unclear what the nature of this project is, so we don’t know whether it’ll be a film or a series. But Richtman says this is what the sequel plans have morphed into, so that may suggest a movie.
BoP marked Dinah’s cinematic debut, even though she’s one of DC’s oldest heroines. In the DCEU, she’s the daughter of the original Black Canary, a vigilante who was killed on the streets of Gotham. Dinah became cynical in the wake of her mother’s death and worked as a lounge singer/henchman for Roman Sionis, until she ended up allying with Harley, Huntress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), and Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez) to protect Cass Cain (Ellie Jay Basco) from Sionis.
At the end of the film, Dinah, Huntress and Montoya officially teamed up to form the Birds of Prey. However, Richtman’s intel indicates this spinoff would focus on Black Canary on her own. That maybe paves the way for her to encounter her future husband, Oliver Queen/Green Arrow. All this is just a rumor for now, but it definitely seems like the sort of project that DC is developing for HBO Max, like the Batgirl and Blue Beetle movies. We’ll let you know if more on this Birds of Prey spinoff comes to light.
