Remember when there wasn't any rhyme or reason what season an animated show was in? I couldn't tell you Yogi Bear's "best" year. Modern TV is completely different, of course, and for the past 15 months or so, the Internet has been home to the increasingly vocal fandom of Adult Swim's Rick and Morty as our wait for Season 3 grows longer. And apparently not even co-creator Dan Harmon has any idea when it'll premiere, making and clarifying several comments on the matter over the past few days.
I'm so sorry. I don't have a release date for Season 3. It's not that I know it and I'm not allowed to say it; it's [Adult Swim's] domain. What I will tell you is it's late because of us, it's late because of me.
Rick and Morty's sci-fi hilarity ended Season 2 in October 2015, and even though Dan Harmon and co-creator Justin Rolland were initially joking by making Mr. Poopybutthole announce Season 3 would come after 18 months or more, that joke has become more self-fulfilling prophecy than self-aware recognition. Speaking with IndieWire at this year's Sundance Film Festival, Harmon talked about some of the reasons why things were taking so long and why Rick and Morty's impending release date is still unknown. Some of those comments - including bits about "fighting" with Rolland - were particularly juicy (and disappointing) to fans, so Harmon hit up Twitter and, explaining that his rambling nature led to the confusion, addressed some of those points more succinctly.
In using the word "fights," Dan Harmon said he wasn't using it in any extreme sense, and meant more going back and forth over the best jokes to use, with perfectionism as their guides. And he recognizes that this late in the game, and with so little news coming out about Rick and Morty's current status, fans are prone to overreacting to anything that comes out.
Basically, though, Dan Harmon is unable to speak further on where Rick and Morty will show up on Adult Swim's schedule because his part in it is done for the moment. In his Twitter update, he said it's still being drawn and animated, so it's out of his hands. And even if it was completely finished and he'd seen every episode and loved it and wanted everyone to see it, Harmon still wouldn't be able to tell us when it's coming out. As he reiterated:
For now, the whens and hows of Rick and Morty Season 3's debut are still up in the air, but CinemaBlend will be here to scream out the answer when it's revealed. Head to our midseason premiere schedule to see everything that is confirmed to show up on TV in the near future.
