In a rather surprise movie, Arleen Sorkin - best known for voicing Harley Quinn in
Batman: The Animated Series and the video game
Batman: Arkham Asylum - will be dropping out of the sequel,
Arkham City, leaving Tara Strong to take her place. From
Escapist Magazine:
Replacing Arleen Sorkin as Harley will be veteran voice actor Tara Strong, who has voiced quite literally hundreds of characters. She's been Bubbles in
Powerpuff Girls, Rikku in
Final Fantasy X, and has most recently taken the internet by storm as unicorn mage Twilight Sparkle in
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.
This won't be Strong's first time in the Batman universe, either - she voiced Batgirl in the
TAS followup
The New Batman Adventures as well as in several games, and has also appeared on
Batman: The Brave and the Bold as Huntress.
There's an excellent Q&A with Ms. Strong on the
Arkham City site, in which she assures fans of Arleen Sorkin's Harley that she knows the role has "an established voice and character" that she intends to honor to the best of her ability. Given the wide variety of her roles, one can only imagine she has the chops for it.
Batman: Arkham City arrives in stores October 18th, later this year!