Warner Bros.' Birds of Prey has found its director. One of several Harley Quinn movies that wound up in development following the success of Suicide Squad is moving forward, as the studio has tapped newcomer Cathy Yan to helm this ensemble adventure, with Margot Robbie not only returning to reprise her role as Harely Quinn, but she will also be involved as a producer as well. It looks like this movie could begin filming before the end of the year.

Cathy Yan only has one movie under her belt, the indie Dead Pigs, but she reportedly beat out several well-established, male directors for the job. Not only because Margot Robbie wanted the movie to be directed by a female, but because her presentation reportedly was exceptional. Yan, outside of her single directorial effort, started out as a reporter for the Wall Street Journal before making her way into the world of filmmaking. A project of this size and scope is certainly going to help put her on the map.

Hiring such an unexperienced director for a project like Birds of Prey may be considered risky in some respects, but it also makes sense. For one, Cathy Yan is said to have earned the job with her vision, so there's that to consider. Also, it's no secret that the DCEU has faced its fair share of trouble thus far, with Wonder Woman being the only movie to find both critical and financial success. Not only does Wonder Woman center on a female hero, but it was directed by a woman in Patty Jenkins. Warner Bros. has had the best look with women behind the camera when it comes to DC so far. This is a female-driven story and it makes sense to have a woman tell that story.

Birds of Prey, in the world of DC Comics, features a team that consists of Black Canary, Barbara Gordon (Batgirl) and Huntress. In the movie version, Harley Quinn will be joining them. Christina Hodson, who wrote the upcoming Bumblebee movie, penned the screenplay for Birds of Prey. She was also recently hired to write the Batgirl movie for Warner Bros. as well. That's particularly interesting, since Barbara Gordon is typically part of the Birds of Prey team. Maybe this movie will set up the Batgirl solo movie?

Suicide Squad 2 is also still happening, but when may be a bit of a question. It was expected that the sequel would shoot later this year, but it sounds like Margot Robbie is going to first shoot Birds of Prey, after completing work on Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. So we may have to wait a bit longer to see Deadshot and the gang reunited. Or maybe Robbie will wind up shooting them back-to-back?

The other two Harley Quinn projects, Harley Quinn Vs The Joker and Gotham City Sirens, are both still in development, but they don't seem nearly as close to happening. David Ayer, who directed Suicide Squad, is still attached to Gotham City Sirens. There's no release date set for Birds of Prey just yet, but with the movie possibly filming before the end of the year, a late 2019 date or early 2020 date seems likely. This news comes to us courtesy of Deadline.