Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn solo movie has a director

Harley Quinn has a director.

Deadline is reporting that Cathy Yan will direct a movie set to star Margot Robbie in a return to her Suicide Squad role of Harley Quinn, presumably with other big-name female DC Comics characters set to appear alongside her.

The announcement confirms that a movie with Robbie as Harley Quinn in the lead role is just as important to Warner Bros and DC Entertainment as the sequel to Suicide Squad, in which Robbie also is likely to star.

The movie will be based on the DC Comics title Birds of Prey and follows Yan's debut film, Dead Pigs, which screened at the Sundance Film Festival this year.

Yan will play a lead role in deciding many factors that will make a Birds of Prey film hit or miss with fans, namely: Who will be fighting alongside (or against) Robbie's Harley Quinn? Poison Ivy? Catwoman?

And should a Birds of Prey film utilise the connection Robbie has with Jared Leto's Joker from Suicide Squad or ignore him entirely?

As polarizing as Suicide Squad was during its theatrical run in 2016, many agreed that Robbie's take on Quinn was one of the film's highlights, giving Warner Bros/DC the confidence to build a movie franchise around the character.

Yan joins DC's growing roster of female directors, which includes Patty Jenkins of Wonder Woman and Ava DuVernay of the recently announced New Gods movie.