“Rick and Morty” season 9 has already been eliciting riotous laughter since it arrived last week for a fresh and frantic 10-episode leap into more ‘multiverse galactic s**t.’ It’s one of the show’s best and brightest seasons yet, with a cavalcade of interdimensional wackiness to enjoy.
We hooked up with “Rick and Morty” co-creator, Dan Harmon, and showrunner Scott Marder to get the full scoop on what this new batch of episodes brings. leaning back into hard sci-fi, and that sweet martial arts showdown in a treacherous Trader Joe’s parking lot.
“I think it felt familiar and felt relatable,” Marder explains to Space regarding the third episode, “Rick-Fu Hustle.” “Like, how cool would it be if an episode could just start from a minor fender bender? In this case, it just so happens to be with a kung-fu master, that gets the whole story rolling. A lot of times those are really joyful starts to episodes, things that start as small as that.”
Harmon is eager to hear enthusiastic reactions from viewers, both longtime and new.
“It’s been a long, turbulent ride,” he notes. “The show’s been on for a long time. Scott came on board to run it, and it was not a rewarding job to be brought into it. That’s the thing I’m excited about. It’s like feeling like a grown-up. Having a show, and it’s airing, and it’s airing on schedule, and people are responding to it and liking it.”
There’s one episode in particular that Harmon is excited to see the fan reaction to. “I’m really excited to see people’s response to the evolution episode,” he reveals. “It was a little bit of a departure and an experimental way of telling a story, and I’m interested to see if it’s a crowd-pleaser or not. I’ll be proud of it regardless.”
As showrunner and executive producer, Marder senses a creative solidarity flowing into this latest outing that starts with the entire creative team across the board.
“This season in a lot of ways is a celebration, and I think you can feel it in everything,” he adds. “Everyone was so grateful that this show held together and weathered all the storms it did internally. All our best people stayed with us. The morale was through the roof, and you could feel it in every department, and it bled into every episode. That’s why it feels so dense and upbeat. Everyone was so thrilled being part of this thing. It just doesn’t feel like the ninth season of a show; it feels like the third season of a show.”
“Rick and Morty” has always been a massive pop culture sponge, absorbing current trends and hot topics, then twisting them into its own signature shape of surreal spoofs.
“I know that everyone in the writer’s room of a sci-fi show watches like ‘Black Mirror,'” Harmon says. “That’s the one that comes to mind in a very meta creative way. That probably had a big influence on us. I’m saying the same thing now about ‘Widow’s Bay.’ That obviously won’t apply to season nine, and we talked about ‘Severance’ being an influence on season eight. But it’s more like whatever show is out there hitting it, and you draw inspiration from watching it.
“You put yourself in the Salieri role of a Mozart story, and you just bathe in whoever is killing it. When I was doing ‘Community,’ ‘Breaking Bad’ was that thing. We were inspired by it, writing an NBC sitcom about a community college. Limiting it to sci-fi, maybe ‘Black Mirror’ is that thing. The writers can come in and go, ‘what do you think about this way of handling these themes?'”
Staying locked in and motivated doesn’t seem to be an issue for Harmon, even though he admits it’s been a very challenging past couple of years.
“Last year, my answer would be something as grim as, ‘I just want to keep the kids off the street.’ We have 200 employees, and that’s sort of a Dickensian answer. Maybe it’s just mood swings, but now my answer is going to be ‘Widow’s Bay’ and ‘DTF St. Louis.’ I’m watching colleagues in this wasteland, economically and industrially, and they’re creating beyond Golden Age television. Now I feel like I’ve got to get back in there and participate in making people happy.”
But when all the portals close and there’s a quiet calm that settles over the “Rick and Morty” tribe, it remains the show’s loyal fanbase that makes it all worthwhile.
“Our fans care so much, and the early vibes we’re getting from even the critics and how they’re enjoying the season, means a lot to us.” Marder adds.
“It’s very rewarding, and it fuels me to want to keep doing better. Not everyone gets to have a fanbase. A lot of shows just exist and disappear. I’m very grateful for this one to have a rabid one nine seasons deep, and to know that we’re giving them an atypical one that’s better than a normal nine-season show should be.”
“Rick and Morty” season 9 landed on Adult Swim on May 24, with new episodes each Sunday at 11 p.m. ET/PT. In the meantime, you can also catch the previous eight seasons on Netflix.