Rick and Morty will survive (and on).
The Adult Swim cult comedy was greenlit for 2 additional seasons, ensuring it should now reach a twelfth season and run through 2029. The announcement was made during a Recent York Comic Con panel, which featured series co-creator Dan Harmon together with showrunner Scott Marder and a few key members of the show’s voice solid. “No one wants a universe without Rick and Morty. Fortunately, the list of places to go stays infinite,” said Harmon.
The series, which premiered way back in 2013, was previously greenlit through season 10, though, given the considerable lag time that animation requires, season eight has yet to air. The latter is about to roll out in 2025 and considered one of its episodes will feature a sneak animatic, which also debuted throughout the NYCC panel.
“From Season One, Rick and Morty set a brand new standard in adult animation and has shown no signs of stopping,” Adult Swim president Michael Ouweleen added in a press release. “Dan, Scott and the remainder of the immensely talented team behind Rick and Morty are continuously outdoing themselves and I’ll be joining the tens of millions of fans world wide in looking forward to more adventures within the years to come back.”
The renewal news arrives after the Emmy-winning comedy, which continues to be Adult Swim’s No. 1 show, underwent a substantial shakeup behind the scenes. Series co-creator Justin Roiland was ousted from the hit after an early 2023 NBC News report that said he’d been charged with felony domestic violence in reference to a 2020 incident. He was later cleared of said charges because of insufficient evidence, but Adult Swim had already severed ties, which included recasting his voice as each Rick and Morty.
In September of that very same 12 months, NBC News published a second report featuring nine separate accounts of his alleged misconduct, which ranged from sexual harassment to sexual assault. Roiland, who denied the allegations, had reportedly leveraged his affiliation with Rick and Morty and its runaway success on social media and dating apps to lure the ladies. At that time, Harmon, who had not commented publicly in regards to the situation concerning his co-creator, opened as much as THR.
“The simplest thing for me to say about Justin has been nothing. Easy because he isolated so well and straightforward because I’m no one’s first alternative as a judge of anything or anyone. That is where I’d love to alter the topic to myself, to what a bit of crap I’ve been my whole public life,” he said as a part of a 2023 cover story. “I’d feel so secure and cozy making this about me, but that trick is worthless here and dangerous to others. It’s other people’s safety and luxury that got damaged while I obsessed over a cartoon’s quality. Trust has now been violated between countless people and a show designed to please them. I’m frustrated, ashamed and heartbroken that lots of exertions, joy and keenness will be leveraged to use and harm strangers.”
Within the meantime, production continued moving forward, with newcomers Ian Cardoni and Harry Belden tapped to voice the narcissistic, alcoholic genius Rick and his bumbling grandson Morty, respectively, ahead of season seven. Based on many on the show, voice work had been the extent of Roiland’s contributions to the series for years. Marder, for his part, was brought it to be what Harmon once described as “an actual showrunner” following season three, and, by all accounts, has provided the form of structure and organization required for it to proceed.
“I couldn’t be prouder to have taken this baton pass of a lifetime during Rick and Morty’s fourth season and get us to Season 10,” said Marder. “Attending to transcend that now could be such a present I can’t wait to provide our fans. Rick and Morty — 100 years — without end!”