Evil Morty quickly emerged as one of Rick and Morty's most popular and intriguing characters, with his introduction eventually leading to the sinister Rick Prime taking on a key role in the hit Adult Swim series.
Both of their stories have played out relatively slowly, and while the show does have a handful of ongoing subplots, it's rare for them to play out through multiple episodes of a single season. Now, Rick and Morty executive producer Steven Levy has shed some light on this unique storytelling approach.
"I don't see us writing a series with a red thread to follow every week, it would be too hard," he tells Premiere. "Imagine ten seasons of this on Rick and Morty! We would end up making episodes just to make episodes and feed the story as best we can."
He'd add, "Dan Harmon grew up watching the sitcoms of the 70s and 80s, where each episode operated independently of the others. Nothing was 'serialized' and that allowed a series to last much longer."
That makes sense, and part of the fun of watching Rick and Morty is being able to hop in and out of episodes without needing an encyclopedic knowledge of what's come before. However, for hardcore fans, there are usually references and teases spread throughout, something Levy wants to keep going.
"The rule is that there must be at least one episode each season evoking the 'big story,'" he explains. "That way people are rewarded for continuing to watch the show." He concluded by pointing out that Evil Morty and Rick Prime are treated as special inclusions to heighten an episode, explaining why they only appear sporadically.
When Rick and Morty returns for its seventh season later this year, it will be minus co-creator and lead voice actor Justin Roiland. It doesn't sound like he's had creative input for some time, but it will be interesting to see what, if any, impact his absence has on the ongoing Rick Prime story arc.
Stay tuned for updates.