The Big Picture

Kite Man: Hell Yeah!
follows Kite Man and Golden Glider as they try to save their favorite Gotham dive bar from going under in a fun and chaotic adventure.
Dean Lorey explains why Kite Man was chosen for a spin-off, showcasing an underdog story and an unexpected choice for a lead character in the DC Universe.
Kite Man’s relationship with Golden Glider will be a central focus, exploring their dynamic as well as Kite Man’s internal struggle with his more villainous tendencies.

Out of all the possible characters who could have earned their own Harley Quinn spin-off, no doubt the last person anyone would’ve ever imagined is Kite Man (Matt Oberg), the wayward, D-list ex-fiance of Poison Ivy (Lake Bell) — and yet it’s happened, in a manner so perfect we couldn’t have written it better ourselves. Kite Man: Hell Yeah!, which hails from the OG Harley Quinn team of Dean Lorey, Patrick Schumacker, and Justin Halpern, follows our favorite hopeless supervillain Kite Man as he attempts to take his relationship with Golden Glider (Stephanie Hsu) to the next level by saving their favorite Gotham dive bar, Noonan’s, from going under. What better way to do that than by coughing up the cash themselves? It turns out that running a bar in the shadow of Lex Luthor’s (Lance Reddick) Legion of Doom is a little easier said than done, especially since the duo has to hire a whole new staff to keep the lights on, but if anyone can push through a seemingly insurmountable job with a lot of optimism and a whole lot more “hell yeah”s, it’s our guy Kite Man.

Ahead of the series premiere on Max, Collider had the opportunity to chat with Oberg and Lorey about the upcoming spin-off, which boasts everything from a slew of fun Harley Quinn cameos to an absolute powerhouse group of voice actors. Over the course of the interview, which you read below, Lorey explains why Kite Man was the first Harley character to get his own spin-off (even though he was only meant to be a one-off appearance in the original series), why the writers want to keep Kite Man and Golden Glider going strong, and how Kite Man’s more villainous tendencies will be tested this season. The two also discussed Kite Man’s impressive voice cast, from the late Lance Reddick to Jonathan Banks and Michael Imperioli, how this show will lead into Season 5 of Harley Quinn, and more.

Kite Man: Hell Yeah! Release Date 2024-00-00 Seasons 1

Dean Lorey Explains the Genesis of ‘Kite Man: Hell Yeah!’
Image via Max

COLLIDER: This show has been in development for a while. Dean, as someone who has been involved in this universe since Harley Quinn, and even before that, when did those conversations start about doing a spin-off, and when did the conversation become, “Let’s make it a Kite Man show?”

DEAN LOREY: We had always sort of joked about, “Wouldn’t it be great to do a spin-off of Harley?” We just hoped [the show] would be popular enough to justify it. It was around the production of Season 4 that it started to get real that they wanted a spin-off. We batted around a bunch of ideas, but what really jazzed us was the idea of doing a Kite Man show because we were looking for something that was different from Harley, that could be part of that universe but felt very much its own thing and its own tone. We loved the underdog story of Kite Man, who has no powers. He has no abilities, really, other than flying a kite. His dad thinks he’s worthless, he just got broken up with, and we thought, “Wouldn’t it be great to see that guy have to face one of the greatest threats to the DC Universe that has ever existed? How would he do it? What a great writing challenge that would be.”

And Matt, we have loved from the beginning. We wrote Kite Man for him, and we always wanted him to do it. Initially, it was just gonna be a little one-off. He was just gonna appear in the bar mitzvah episode in Season 1, and we fell in love with the character, and other people did too, and we just kept writing to him. So, it just seemed to make sense that we would pick the most unexpected choice for our first spin-off, and that’s why we went there.

Matt, what was your reaction to finding out that there would be a spin-off, and that it would be for Kite Man?

MATT OBERG: I thought it was a really bad idea. [Laughs] “Are you sure?” was my reaction. No, I was so excited. I did not really see that coming — I don’t think anyone did — so I was thrilled to have a chance to work with this team again and do this character more. I think what Dean said: you have to have something different than Harley. So, why not, instead of one of the coolest characters leading the show, have one of the least cool? Go the other way. The show that no one really wanted. Do that one and see what happens.

LOREY: One of the things about making Harley that I always loved was that we would always try to put in the jokes and runs and things that would normally fall out of a script over drafts. We would always try to put those left turns in, and keep them in, even though maybe we were getting bored of them. That was part of the appeal of doing Kite Man; it was our first instinct. It was like, “Let’s just do it. Let’s honor that because that’s what we were excited about doing.”

The ‘Kite Man: Hell Yeah!’ Writers Want to Keep Kite Man and Golden Glider Together
Image via Max

Kite Man is coming off of a breakup, but in his own show, he’s in this exciting new relationship with Golden Glider, who really matches his freak in a lot of ways. Their relationship development feels like a solid anchor for the story. Is the plan to keep them together as a couple and have them weather these ups and downs? We’ve talked to Patrick [Schumacker] and Justin [Halpern] before, and they’ve said they’re not interested in breaking Harley and Ivy up for drama, so I’m wondering if the same is true for this show.

LOREY: We love them as a couple. We’d love to see them stay together, and that’s our plan. Hopefully, Stephanie Hsu won’t get too famous, and she’ll want to continue doing it. We love her. We really wanted to see Kite Man in a very healthy relationship that made sense because initially, when we paired him with Ivy, the joke was that we wanted to find a very D-list villain to show the kind of guys that were hitting on her. But we really ultimately wanted to find what felt like a great match for him and in a healthy relationship, so we’d love to see that continue.

There’s a reveal in an early episode that Kite Man has never actually killed anyone. It’s this big drop for dramatic effect, but it makes him such a fascinating dichotomy of a character to lead this show, which is set in the world of supervillains. Is that something we’re going see tested a bit more over the course of the show — how far he can be immersed in this world without resorting to killing? Because you have his girlfriend over here, who’s just slashing throats left and right.

LOREY: He certainly gets tested. During the course of the season, without saying too much, we find a very, very different side of Kite Man, who essentially finds his inner bad guy. Is that a fair thing to say, Matt?

OBERG: Yeah. You’ll be seeing the outer limits of my range. So, something to look forward to. It’s a great turn. I didn’t see it coming, and it was a ton of fun. I hope Kite Nation is ready.

Related ‘Kite Man: Hell Yeah!’: Cast, Trailer, Release Window, and Everything We Know So Far What is Ivy’s old flame up to these days?

Speaking of range, Matt, how do you feel your performance and the role have evolved over your time with the character? Going back to when the expectation was that this would be a one-off to where he is now, how do you feel you’ve grown and developed?

OBERG: It’s funny, it used to feel like more of a character. I used to feel like, “Oh, okay, what is this voice I’m doing and this performance I’m manufacturing?” And then I would get into a recording session and be like, “Can you play back some of what it was?” And then I was like, “Oh, it’s me. It’s who I am.” [Laughs] So, I think it’s become a lot easier to do and just a little more natural, maybe. It probably always was, I just had the time to accept that.

LOREY: We wrote it for Matt. We had him in mind the whole time we were doing it, and to us, the key to the character was no matter what he was up against, he’s just optimistic. He’s sweet and optimistic, and that’s his power.

‘Kite Man: Hell Yeah!’ Has a Powerhouse Voice Cast, From Jonathan Banks to Lance Reddick

The voice cast consists of so many powerhouses, a lot of people that you wouldn’t expect to play in this world: Michael Imperioli, Jonathan Banks, Lance Reddick. How do you pitch this type of show in the hopes of getting actors like these on board?

LOREY: Well, Harley helped because Harley was a hit, and it was becoming kind of a cool thing to do. We just went after actors that we loved and never imagined would say yes, and they virtually all did. We just kept going, “Well, why not ask Jonathan Banks? Maybe he’ll do it.” We just slowly put together the cast that way. But that’s pretty much how Harley happened. Once we had the first couple of actors, people jumped on. But it’s a wonderful cast. We pretty much mined all of What We Do in the Shadows for their actors. [Laughs]

I did want to ask about Lance [Reddick] as Lex Luthor. What did he bring to the role that differentiates it from Giancarlo Esposito and his performance in Harley Quinn, while also feeling like the same guy that we’ve known in this world?

LOREY: First of all, he was wonderful. He really leaned into the gravity of Lex and the depth of him, whereas Giancarlo was a little bit more of a businessman. We were shocked and very saddened when he passed, but he had recorded most of the episodes, and so we were able to use his work. He’s wonderful in it. Truly wonderful.

Matt, you mentioned that sliding into Kite Man now doesn’t feel like as much of donning a character as it used to, but I’m wondering if there’s still anything that you have that really helps you get into character, find the voice, get into the headspace at all?

OBERG: It’s helpful to have a catchphrase in those moments. You just have to say that loud, and it pretty much takes you where you need to go. Just a couple of “hell yeahs” and you’re there. Honestly, that and that attitude that Dean was talking about, about just picking yourself up and, “Keep going, it’s gonna be alright,” which is not necessarily — I’m glad that Dean and everybody else saw that in me, because it’s nice for people to think you’re optimistic when sometimes you’re not. That spirit, gearing into that, is really helpful.

Dean, regarding the larger Harley Quinn universe, several characters cross over into this show. Characters like Bane, for example, have a stronger presence. How connected is Kite Man going to be to Harley Quinn in terms of potentially teasing future seasons and setting up bigger arcs? Or is it more that these shows are happening adjacent to each other in the same universe?

LOREY: They’re definitely in the same universe. I would say that they largely exist on their own, although we do share certain things. Without giving anything away, the end of Kite Man Season 1 has a pretty good hint at what Season 5 of Harley is going to involve. But we share the characters across all of them. And Bane is a regular in this season. He’s a major character.

Kite Man: Hell Yeah premieres with its first three episodes on Thursday, July 18 on Max in the U.S.

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