Before COVID-19 reared its ugly head to wreak havoc on release dates across the board, Adult Swim’s hit animated series Rick And Morty was already notorious for having a wildly inconsistent production schedule. Years would pass without so much as a word, and on the odd occasion, dropping an episode on April Fool’s day just to throw everyone off. According to co-creator and reputed procrastinator Dan Harmon, however, Rick And Morty season 5 will actually arrive on time – and apparently sooner than anticipated.
“We’re more on schedule than we’ve ever been,” says Harmon, noting how little COVID-19 has impacted the digital workflow.
“It kind of makes you have to focus on the whole process when you don’t have this office environment anymore… Everyone has to run this bee colony remotely, so the honey just gets made more consistently. It’s working for us.”
In late July of last year during the Comic-Con at Home virtual panels, an early preview of Rick And Morty season 5 was screened to audiences, throwing audiences right back into that signature high-concept chaos. This was also when, to everyone’s surprise, Harmon confirmed that they were “basically done writing”.
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While the exact Rick And Morty season 5 release date has not yet been revealed – not even so much as a hint beyond the basic reassurance that it’s “coming soon” – Dan Harmon did tease the following:
“There’s an episode in Season 5 where Morty has a relationship with another female character that’s not Jessica. It’s just a great little story and my very, very longtime friend and collaborator Rob Schrab wrote it… He’s also a very tender writer – a juvenile John Hughes. He really feels heartache on a level a man his age shouldn’t… my Emmy is going to that one.”
In 2018, Adult Swim commissioned a total of 70 new episodes. After the conclusion of the latest season, another 60 remains on the docket. Meaning there’s still plenty of sci-fi shenanigans to enjoy in the coming years.
