Harley Quinn’s new spinoff show Kite Man: Hell Yeah! is here, and with it comes plenty of connections to the original series and even a surprising recast.
The show follows the lovable idiot, Kite Man, voiced by Matt Oberg, who fans knew in Harley Quinn as Poison Ivy’s fiancé. That is until she left him at the altar so she could be with Harley.
While life has not been so great for Kite Man, he now has his own show. So, things could be worse for the down-on-his-luck villain—perhaps his series has some fun surprises for him.
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Sorry Harley Quinn, It's Kite Man's Turn in the Spotlight
Kite Man: Hell Yeah! Creator Dean Lorey and lead voice actor Matt Oberg spoke to The Direct's Russ Milheim about the Harley Quinn spinoff series, where they spoke about the insanity of the show existing in the first place, why Lex Luthor was recast, and more.
First, The Direct had to ask Oberg if he ever foresaw that his character from Harley Quinn Season 1 would go on to get his own series one day.
The actor joked how he knew "of course [that was] going to happen," while also adding that it's "shocking, surprising and joyous that this show somehow exists:"
"You know, my ego works in two ways. For one, it's like, well, of course that's going to happen. But the other part is like, this is the biggest long shot of all long shots. It was shocking, surprising, and joyous that this show somehow exists. I think it's analogous to Kite Man's journey of, like, stick around, and something good will happen, you know? So, I didn't see it coming. But I'm so thrilled that it's here."
Showrunner Dean Lorey described Kite Man as "the most pure underdog," who offers "a different point of view" than Harley Quinn does in the flagship series:
"What we loved about this show, is that Kite Man is the most pure underdog that you can imagine. He's got really no abilities. His dad thinks he's worthless. His fiancee left him at the altar. All of these terrible things. And yet, he remains hugely optimistic, hugely positive… We were just very interested in following that guy and taking him on the biggest possible journey. So sure, it shares all the DNA and, in some cases, characters from the 'Harley Quinn' show, but it's a different point of view, a different perspective."
One change in Kite Man viewers will likely notice is the recasting of Lex Luthor. While Giancarlo Esposito originally voiced the character in Harley Quinn, the late Lance Reddick was brought on for Kite Man to embody the iconic villain.
Lorry confirmed the reasoning behind the recast "was scheduling" and that Reddick "ended up being perfect," bringing "a greater gravity and a seriousness to it:"
"It was scheduling. I mean, Giancarlo Espisito was great. We weren't looking to replace him. He was wonderful. I couldn't believe he agreed to do it to begin with as a 'Breaking Bad' fan... But for Lance, when we had to find a new Lex, he ended up being perfect, and he brought something different to the role. I thought he brought a greater gravity and a seriousness to it that I loved and Giancarlo was a little more of a businessman, they were both great, they were just different. And we were really heartbroken when we learned what happened with Lance."
Lex Luthor is not the only returning face from Harley Quinn. Another is James Adomian's Bane, who was one of Matt Oberg's favorite characters to interact with in the series:
"Bane is so amazing, and James Adomian does such an amazing job with that voice. So I think the way they've written him and what James does with that character, it's always, to try to meet that level of funniness, is a helpful bar to have."
Bane is "a regular" on the show, Lorey confirmed, adding that the pairing of him and Kite Man "was sort of a dream come true:"
"Bane is a major character in 'Kite Man,' he's really a regular. And he's always been one of my favorites to write. I love Bane. Kite Man's another one, obviously… We love writing Kite Man. And there are other characters who really didn't make it much into Kite Man. Clayface was always a favorite, I love writing him. I mean, pairing Bane with Kite Man up was a dream come true because we love writing about those characters."
A new character who gets introduced in Kite Man is Natasia Demetriou's Malice, someone who Lorey revealed was a part of "a full script that involved her" in Harley Quinn Season 1, but it ended up not happening:
"But then there were other characters that were new to us. For example, Malice was a character that we had wanted to use in the first season of 'Harley Quinn.' We actually wrote a full script that involved her, but we ended up not doing it for one reason or another. But we wanted to use her, and so we pulled her into the world of Kite Man, where she made even more sense because she could work at the bar."
Lordy then confirmed that when it came to picking what characters to use, "nobody was off limits," but there were some higher on the list than others, such as the "Queen of Fables:"
"There was nobody that was off limits. The characters that we chose were [ones] that we either wanted to see in this world or felt had stories that weren't completed and that we wanted to see more of. For instance, Queen of Fables, who we left decapitated in 'Harley Quinn,' was a character we loved. And so we were like, maybe she didn't die, maybe the head didn't die, and that gives her a pretty good journey right there... So a lot of times, it was things like that."
For Matt Oberg, one of the most unique challenges that Kite Man brought to the table was trying to bring to life those "tender moments where [Kite Man is] falling in love with Golden Glider:"
"I think for me [it was the] tender moments where he's falling in love with Golden Glider. It feels weird to do that in a room by yourself into a microphone... I don't know if all actors have this issue, but the first few seconds that you're doing that, it feels really scary because... I'm laying myself out there. But once you do that, and it feels okay, then it gets a lot easier. But those first moments of being vulnerable in that kind of a moment, even though they're only a few and far between in the show. I think they're really important in this show."
For Lorey, "developing [Kite Man] three-dimensionally" while providing "earned drama" was daunting to work towards achieving:
"Kite Man was always or at least started out as a goof, and we never thought of him that way. We loved him as a character, and trying to–committing to really developing him three-dimensionally and to give the character earned drama was daunting and exciting because we always thought of Harley and Kite Man; we would tell stories as if they were dramas and then find character humor in them. So, we wanted to explore the character of Kite Man in a real way. And that was a challenge but a fun one to take on."
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Kite Man: Hell Yeah! is streaming on Max now.
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