Birds of Prey Director on Why Jared Leto's Joker Doesn't Appear in the Movie

Birds of Prey (And The Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) is coming out next week and reactions seem to be positive thus far, which should give fans some confidence to witness this DCEU flick. The fact that it's R-Rated also has some appeal to those that aren't fans of the usual PG-13 Marvel movies, so we have some violence and swears to look forward to.

Still, even with all of that, fans are wondering why Jared Leto's Joker isn't in the movie. He did set her free at the end of Suicide Squad and many felt that the character would have some kind of role to play in a Harley Quinn-centric movie. That won't be the case and director Cathy Yan has given us a reason why, though it might annoy some.

During an interview with Heroic Hollywood, Yan basically said that the movie will focus on how Harley handles the break-up and moves on. This is something that doesn't involve Joker since he might take some of that focus away from Harley.

Well for us, I think the movie starts with the breakup and then it's all about Harley and we just wanted to work with that and whatever we needed him to be… just to show that he existed and that there was a breakup, but the focus of the movie is definitely not on The Joker.

There are probably some people who would have liked to see Joker play some sort of role but that won't be the case. We're probably never going to see Leto's version of Joker again, though you never know what's going to happen.

Birds of Prey will be coming out next week, on February 7.

Read:Birds of Prey Cast Wants to Team Up with Batman and Green Arrow