Rick And Morty Drops A Star Wars Reference In Hilarious Season 3 Footage

Though many of us were extremely hopeful that such a thing wouldn't occur, and despite claims to the contrary, we will soon reach the end of 2016 without a third season of Rick and Morty premiering on Adult Swim. Thankfully, it's been made very clear that it's on the - belch - way and we just have to keep our horses held. For assistance, here's some gut-busting Season 3 footage that makes a great (and particularly timely) reference to Star Wars. That moment happens at the 1:30 mark, so try not to laugh over it.

At this point, there are so many scripted shows on TV that just about every genre and subgenre are accounted for, and Rick and Morty is easily one of the very best sci-fi series out there right now, regardless of its animated nature. And this footage doesn't even have to be in fully animated form to prove that point, as we get to see the titular duo going on a "quick" adventure to retrieve a plasma shard from a princess. Their heinous mission successful, though much later than Rick had originally intended, and they are congratulated in extraordinary fashion with a big ceremony that resembles the medal banquet at the end of Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope.

Since it was just animatics shown during the Adult Swim livestream, we don't get the full visual sense from the iconic Star Wars scene, but this bit thankfully had music behind it, unlike some of the other sequences, and that music was most definitely a Star Wars soundalike. Or was short enough to not qualify for copyright infringement. Or was actually acquired legally, since Adult Swim has that whole Robot Chicken/Star Wars relationship. Legit or not, it's a righteous shout out to a franchise that is currently demolishing everything else at the box office, with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story already having earned $555 million around the world. I like to think someone in Rick's family would be a pilot for the Rebels.

This moment might have normally been a great time for Rick and Morty to ease off into a pointed spoofing of the sci-fi adventure classic, but after everything the two had just gone through, the only thing that was left for them to do was sob and freak out about how extremely dangerous and stressful their six-day survival was. It's actually kind of the best way to pay homage, since it's the opposite of full themed episode. If only Jar Jar's appearance had been so brief.

While Rick and Morty has been good on releasing supplemental materials like mobile games and horror-themed shorts, not to mention co-creator Justin Rolland's VR side project, the actual date when we'll get to reconnect with Rick and Morty on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim is still a bigger mystery than how many alternate versions of Jerry are out there that are actually cool. (It's close to zero, but not quite there.) There's no mystery behind what new and returning shows are heading to the small screen in the near future, and you can find them all with our midseason premiere schedule.