After having experienced three seasons of Rick and Morty, I believe fans would agree the absolute worst thing about the show is the lengthy gap that takes place between seasons, with well over a year having passed between the respective seasons' finales and premieres. But according to co-creator Justin Roiland, all of that constant waiting is a thing of the past after Season 4, thanks to Adult Swim's gigantic 70-episode renewal order. Here's how he explained it.
We're super excited that, for the first time ever, we're locked in, we know what the future is, we have job security. Harmon is in great spirits. We have a great writer's room. We want the episodes to stay good, but we do also want to try to turn them around a little quicker now that we have this big order, I think it gives us the ability to be faster. We're not going to do these long breaks, these chasms in between seasons anymore. We're going to schedule vacation time and just keep the machine going. It's going to be really cool.
That sounds like ambrosia from a planet where people are made out of jelly beans (but definitely aren't child molesters). Now that Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon are getting back into the swing of things in putting Season 4 together, the co-creator apparently feels confident enough to say that the creative team won't be needing such extended production schedules like they did in the past. The goal now will be to get much quicker turnaround times between episodes getting crafted and then eventually airing. Which is something that benefits everyone, and will hopefully help to stop the fanbase's more obnoxious members from whinging online as often.
Justin Roiland credits Adult Swim's massive renewal order for setting the writers up for a future that doesn't need to be peppered with delays and premiere date guesswork. If Rick and Morty sticks to ten episodes a season, the show will be around for at least seven more seasons, and that kind of job security can be a boon to one's creative juices. They'll no longer necessarily feel the need to spend as much time perfecting each and every episode detail as if those will be the last ones they'll ever work on, which will allow all involved to plan for regularly scheduled vacations during the between-season hiatuses. Which can actually be proper hiatuses now, instead of mini-epochs.
And it's apparently quite the positive experience getting back into action for Rick and Morty Season 4. Here's what else Justin Roiland told Polygon.
It's exciting, it's a little surreal. Even just being in the writers room for half the day every day this week, the ideas are... It's going to be great.
If only Roiland had just unleashed 15-30 of those big ideas that they're kicking around for Season 4. (Maybe that's a bit much, so 14 ideas, then.) Season 3 gave us episodes that turned Rick into a pickle for truly scientific reasons, allowed Jerry to find a new girlfriend for unscientific reasons, revealed Beth's childhood fantasy dimension Froopyland, and way, way more. I would say the sky is the limit for Season 4, but not even an infinite number of skies can keep this show from its insanely imaginative storylines.
For now, we're still not sure when Rick and Morty Season 4 will debut on Adult Swim, and that's no April Fool's joke. Hopefully we'll get some short-form animations in the interim, though. Relive Season 3 with some very interesting Blu-ray commentary tracks, and head to our summer premiere schedule to see what new and returning shows will come around soon.
