If someone were to say Rick and Morty was influenced by Star Wars, few people would be surprised. Star Wars is, after all, one of the most prolific and successful sci-fi franchises out there, and even shows that aren’t in the genre have been known to reference or borrow material from it. What might be far more surprising to hear is that Star Wars was influenced by Rick and Morty, and apparently that’s a completely factual statement, according to Andor showrunner Tony Gilroy.
Don't worry, you won’t need your Disney+ subscription to scour past episodes for a Rick Sanchez-looking character in the background to spot its influence. Andor was a little more subtle than that. Tony Gilroy spoke to Variety about Season 1’s storyline and how Rick and Morty’s Season 4 episode "One Crew over the Crewcoo's Morty" inspired the writers to think outside the box when orchestrating the show’s own heist sequences:
I mean, you put ‘prison’ on the table, and everybody’s just like, Well, there’s a high bar. How many absolutely astonishing prison movies are there? If we’re gonna do the heist, it’s like, Oh my god, after listening to Dan Harmon take the heist apart on Rick and Morty, you’re like, OK, what are we gonna do?! So the whole goal is to try to turn everything upside down. You’re really excavating for originality all the way down the line, and then hopefully, you can’t be too original at the expense of your story, but that’s the first motivation is how do you turn this inside out so people haven’t seen it before.
For the uninitiated, “One Crew over the Crewcoo’s Morty” is essentially Rick Sanchez proving to his grandson Morty that most heists play out with the same formula. Rick might’ve only intended to dismantle the heist genre to dissuade Morty from pitching his heist movie to Netflix so they could continue to have adventures together, but he also managed to influence Andor in a way that the writing team worked to figure out more inventive ways to work out its heist scene.
The end result was a Star Wars series that some are even recommending to people who aren’t fans of the movies and shows. It may seem like a simple statement for Andor to keep the mindset of “turning everything upside down” so that it can present classic concepts in storytelling in a new and inventive way, but apparently it took a Rick and Morty heist parody episode to really drive that concept home to the showrunner.
Influencing Star Wars is quite a feather in the cap for Rick and Morty, though it’s worth noting the Adult Swim series has slowly been spreading its influence and talent to other franchises for some time. Former showrunner Mike McMahan is over in the Star Trek world as the creator of the franchise’s first comedy series Lower Decks. She-Hulk lead writer Jessica Gao is crushing it in the Marvel universe and was responsible for the award-winning Rick and Morty episode “Pickle Rick.” Let’s not forget that Loki head writer Michael Waldron also mentioned his time on Rick and Morty helped him on that series, and Jeff Loveness was tapped to write Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.
In short, while it may sound a bit strange right now that Rick and Morty influenced Star Wars, it may not be weird to hear in a couple of years. The adult-animation series is leaving its mark on the creative minds of major franchises, and some really quality ones at that. I guess it’s a good thing the show got that big renewal order way back when so it can continue to inspire more great television in the years to come.
Rick and Morty recently wrapped up Season 6 at Adult Swim, but you can binge the series right now with an HBO Max subscription. Now is as good of a time as any to do so, especially while waiting for the new year and all the great shows coming on the 2023 TV schedule.
