Rick and Morty Season 8 is here, and it's sounds like just the latest batch of episodes we'll be enjoying in the years to come. While there might've been a time when the Adult Swim series was considering an endpoint, creator Dan Harmon and showrunner Scott Marder confirmed to CinemaBlend there's no end in sight (currently) for the sci-fi animated series, and gave me a good reason why.
I had a chance to talk to Harmon and Marder ahead of the arrival of the new season and asked about whether they've ever considered an "endgame" for Rick and Morty. There might have been a point that was in the cards when the series was more serialized, but the show's massive popularity has led to them getting the greenlight to make new seasons indefinitely.
In fact, at this point, Dan Harmon doesn't see any reason to stop the train:
It's almost like out of our hands. My feeling is that if we started bothering, if we went like, ‘Let's take a bow and finish on top!’ I think the unspoken answer to that would be like, ‘On top of what? You're already like wallpaper,’ a fixture. I think our job is, to us, playing the game properly is to just see if we can set a record for distance and find joy every single episode. Because I don't know what ribbon we would get from what committee for having the restraint and bravery to after all we've done and been through to go like in season 13 [we’re done].
He has a point, because while some sitcoms like Seinfeld and Young Sheldon took pride in going out while still at their peak, Rick and Morty is in a different category of television (and make significantly fewer episodes per season). It seems he and the rest of the crew are committed to making sure there are many episodes to binge with a Max subscription for our grandchildren years into the future.
I suppose all this to say, the meme of "100 years of Rick and Morty" is a real thing.
That said, there is a caveat to that promise. Dan Harmon noted that in the case where the best episodes of Rick and Morty start to eclipse more recent episodes by a wide margin, he's not opposed to pulling the plug on the animated series.
I can say look, if it's fatigue, if the show starts to suck and we go like, ‘Look, the show sucks now, let's stop making it.’ That would be a different kind of ‘Fine. Great. Here's your award for honesty and self-awareness,' or whatever, but. But I, I think that in a world where like hit shows that have a plan for an ending and does a graceful, wonderful ending, I mean, those shows get to, you know, they, they're like eight episodes long, 6 to 2 seasons.
I thought of Stranger Things' final season when Dan Harmon said that, and yeah, Rick and Morty doesn't need to try and do that. There's nothing wrong with being yet another animated show that continues with no real plan for an ending. Or it can do what The Simpsons did and make a random ending for people wanting to see one, then continue as a series afterward, like nothing happened.
Scott Marder gave his two cents on it all, and it sounds like we could be getting sequels to Interdimensional Cable for years to come. The Rick and Morty showrunner echoed Harmon and assured me there are no conversations about ending the show, even as they wrap up work on Season 10:
Yeah, an ending has not been in the conversation. Like if, if there really were fatigue and it felt like creatively we were starting to bang our heads against the wall, maybe there'd be chatter, but internally I can tell you that the show is still breaking as smooth and fun and like effortlessly through [Season] 10 as it was in the early days that like I just don't see an end in sight right now, which is super exciting. It's really exciting.
As a longtime fan who has had the chance to see a handful of Season 8 episodes in advance, I have to agree. Rick and Morty is firing on all cylinders in the new season, and it's just as good now as it was when I first got into the series. I'm especially a fan of the real story behind that whole group of Ricks teased in the trailer, but I won't spoil the surprise for how that all works out.
Rick and Morty Season 8 airs on Adult Swim Sundays at 11:00 p.m. ET. Set those DVRs and be ready for another batch of wild episodes, because this might end up being one of the best seasons yet.
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