‘Rick and Morty’ Exec Producer Dan Harmon Is Already Thinking 2 Seasons Ahead
Last night brought the season eight finale of Adult Swim’s Rick and Morty—a surprisingly poignant (by Rick and Morty standards) look at how Rick and the two Beths have coped with the loss of Diane, Rick’s wife and their mother. As you’d expect, sci-fi weirdness complicates their grief—but the episode, titled “Hot Rick,” brought a sense of closure as well as the suggestion that Rick’s emotional evolution will continue in future seasons. While fans of Rick and Morty have grown used to long wait times between seasons, executive producer and showrunner Scott Marder told io9 ahead of season eight that the team is now on a more regular schedule. Speaking to the Hollywood Reporter, executive producer Dan Harmon elaborated on just what it feels like being on that schedule. Currently, the show’s cast is recording their parts for season nine, and season 10 is already being written. “There’s episodes of season 10 that I’m already so excited about, and that’s a frustrating thing of being on schedule in animation: ‘Can we fast-forward time so people can get a look at this bad boy?’” Harmon joked.
Being on a set schedule years in advance means Rick and Morty will never be able to pull a South Park and weave an entire episode around extremely current events. Harmon is OK with that, he said, and he hopes fans are too. “I don’t know if that’s sad for the [viewers] to hear. They’re like, ‘Why are you three years ahead?’ That means that you’re not going to get that amazing [Jeffrey] Epstein episode. We’re not going to have hot-topic stuff. We stay timeless.” There’s no premiere date yet for season nine of Rick and Morty or its newly announced spin-off series President Curtis—but 2026 seems likely for at least one if not both of those. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
