Rick And Morty Season 3 Is All Written, So Why Don't We Have A Premiere Date?

Rick and Morty Season 3

Most astute Rick and Morty fans already know that Rick Sanchez' catchphrase, "wubba lubba dub dub," actually means "I am in great pain, please help me." I can currently think of no better way to describe the agonizing wait for the show's third season. Reports have indicated that Season 3 would air on Adult Swim before the end of 2016, so why haven't we heard anything about a premiere date? According to Rick and Morty writer, Erica Rosbe, the season is written, but the show's animation has been a slow process. She explained:

We ended four weeks ago, I think. I think they're done soon, they're done really soon. I think in a week or two they're going to have screenings in the production office.

Rick and Morty writers, Erica Rosbe and Sarah Carbiener, recently made an appearance on the Chicks Who Script podcast and provided some very welcome updates on the third season of the hit Cartoon Network series. Although she would not get into the nitty gritty details, Rosbe revealed that all of the episodes of Rick and Morty's third season have been written, and at least a portion of them have been animated.

Following the completion of the animation process, one of the final steps involved in the finalization of a season of Rick and Morty is the screening at the show's production offices. If the schedule stated by Rosbe holds firm, then we can likely assume that the third season of the beloved sci-fi series is incredibly close to completion. With any luck we will all get schwifty by the end of the year.

It's not even remotely surprising to learn that the animation department is what's holding up production of the third season of Rick and Morty. Dan Harmon has been incredibly vocal over the course of the last few months about the fact that the entire team of animators who work on Rick and Morty take their jobs incredibly seriously. The show has earned a stellar reputation among fans for its high quality production value, so a perfectionist attitude is definitely appreciated.

The animation process for Rick and Morty is made even more difficult due to the fact that the show uses a rather unorthodox method. Although the episodes are very thoroughly written, Rick and Morty uses a process known as "retroscripting," in which the animators work around primarily ad-libbed dialogue. This is one of the major reasons why voice actor Justin Roiland mumbles and stutters so much when he does Rick's voice. It makes for great comedy, but it's hell on the show's animators.

We will bring you all of the latest and greatest details related to the highly anticipated third season of Rick and Morty as more information becomes available to us. As of now there is still no confirmed premiere date for the new season, but we are still hoping it be ready debut before the end of the year. We'll keep you updated either way. For now, be sure to check out our comprehensive fall TV premiere guide and fill out your TV viewing schedules accordingly!

Conner Schwerdtfeger

Originally from Connecticut, Conner grew up in San Diego and graduated from Chapman University in 2014. He now lives in Los Angeles working in and around the entertainment industry and can mostly be found binging horror movies and chugging coffee.