SPOILER ALERT: This interview comprises spoilers from Season 7 of Grownup Swim’s “Rick and Morty,” now streaming on Max.

With its Season 7 finale “Worry No Mort” airing in December, “Rick and Morty” was capable of shut off what had already been a rollercoaster of a season, one which delivered closure to the arcs of our beloved duo, and tying the knot on the sequence’ predominant plot thread — whereas nonetheless wanting forward on the uncharted territory left for Rick and Morty to enterprise to. 

The present’s viewers appears to have responded to the animated sequence’ newest providing: Its seventh season was launched on Max in January, and in response to Warner Bros. Discovery, is monitoring about 25% increased than Season 6 when it comes to viewing accounts via its first three weeks of availability.

For the primary time because it aired, “Rick and Morty” co-creator Dan Harmon and showrunner Scott Marder break down the Season 7 finale, describing how they veered from the multi-dimension spanning, epic and canonized foder-filled episode the viewers has come to count on as a typical finale.

“Worry No Mort” feels extra like a self-contained story that sees each Rick and Morty deal with the bags and emotional scars left behind from the mid-season finale’s struggle in opposition to Rick Prime. 

In line with Harmon, this episode serves as the top of “Rick’s massive, serialized, one-armed man canonical factor.” The finale brings closure to the story that has outlined him since taking on residence on the Smith residence for the reason that sequence’ pilot. 

“There’s such a futility to his objective of mainly beating himself to loss of life along with his barbaric fists that we’re leaning into the futility of it; it’s a factor that he wanted to do, and now it’s completed. And that’s not essentially an exquisite factor that then makes him capable of loosen up,” Harmon says. 

The episode sees Rick and Morty uncover a “worry gap” in a Denny’s lavatory, which has the flexibility to manifest the best worry of anybody who jumps inside. After initially deciding to go away it alone, Morty jumps into the opening, with Rick leaping in after him to save lots of him. They struggle off some monsters, escape the pit and return residence, solely to appreciate that they’re nonetheless caught inside the opening when Rick’s useless spouse (and the rationale for Rick’s vendetta in opposition to Prime) apparates, seemingly alive and nicely. 

The 2 commute, making an attempt to find out what worry they need to confront to interrupt free. Whereas Rick thinks Morty’s afraid of “dropping” him to Diane, Morty believes it has extra to do with watching Rick die. Whereas Rick inevitably will get consumed by having Diane again, relishing her a lot that he decides to not return to the true world, Morty perpetually retains going through various manifestations of those fears to find out what he’s truly afraid of. 

The finale involves an in depth when Morty hears Rick say that he’s “irreplaceable.” 

In a twist that will have M. Night time Shyamalan scrambling and taking notes, it’s these phrases that make Morty notice that he’s been alone within the gap this entire time, with Rick by no means truly having jumped in after him — his real worry being an over-reliance on Rick. That in the future, he’ll notice that Rick by no means truly cared about him nor about his household, presumably having solely been utilizing them to chase after Prime. 

Solely then, after having accepted this as his true worry, can Morty escape the worry gap. And whereas the episode delivered an emotionally cathartic conclusion to Morty’s arc, the identical goes for Rick’s.

Within the episode’s remaining moments — after having realized that Diane was truly on the planet created by the worry gap — Rick sprints to it, seemingly prepared to leap inside to be reunited along with his real love, solely to then take a deep breath, look away and as a substitute cling up an image of Morty within the wall adjoining to the opening meant to have fun the opening’s victors. 

“I believe the largest fetish for me was ensuring that it felt like a symmetrical inversion of Morty changing into indoctrinated into absolute nihilism by burying his physique,” Harmon says, referencing the Season 1 episode “Rick Potion #9.” “That’s why we wished to do the identical needle drop, as a result of this Rick is now simply as misplaced in an emotional sense as Morty was in a philosophical sense at that second.” 

Harmon provides: “What we’re assuming with this story is this idea that we’ve fallen again on many occasions the place Rick considers Morty replaceable. So, that is form of a remaining step in turning them right into a partnership. It’s definitely not an equal partnership in each manner, however they’re associates, they’re roommates — they’re form of like Ernie and Bert.” 

As Marder put it, Rick went to that Smith home as a result of he was “squatting simply to attempt to get Rick Prime.” With that already completed, he doesn’t have plenty of excuses for being there anymore, so now “he’s selecting to be there along with his household.” 

One other attention-grabbing aspect of the present’s lore the finale was capable of contact on was Rick’s relationship with Diane. Marder says he preferred how the episode was capable of give followers a way of “closure” along with her story, as followers have been capable of get a “fictional style” of what they have been like once they have been collectively.

“An attention-grabbing facet of all of it is the intentionality of Diane being nearly like Voldemort, one thing we don’t even dare categorical. Episode 5 defined why she’s not even within the ether, as a result of she’s actually been erased from every thing,” Marder says. “To have the ability to vocalize that in the midst of the season after which offer you a finale, the place we’re capable of offer you a fictional style of what we consider they have been most likely like once they have been an actual pair, offers you an actual sense of closure along with her.”

The season finale happens within the aftermath of Rick’s battle in opposition to his arch-nemesis, Rick Prime; the mid-season finale that lastly gave followers the backstory of the sequence’ second “antagonist,” Evil Morty, to then have the duo pair up with him in a climactic battle in opposition to Prime. Within the wake of this, Evil Morty leaves and threatens the 2 to not come after him, lest he makes use of a tool able to wiping anyone from existence from the ether, by no means to be present in any alternate dimension. 

With that climax coming in on the season’s midpoint, it gave ample time for the staff to discover the emotional fallout of the journey, and the toll it’s taken on Rick, “You’ve had this agenda, this vendetta, your entire life, and it usually ends in your personal loss of life as nicely. However like Rick’s residing previous that factor that’s been this singular focus his entire life and now it’s all about exploring who he’s with out that,” Marder says.

As for the construction of the sequence transferring ahead, the staff says that the plan is for Season 8 to have the identical “stream” and “vibe” as Seasons 6 and seven, which is to say that the staff desires to strike the same stability within the manufacturing of each canonical and serialized episodes that explores extra narrative-driven tales — à la the Evil Morty, House Beth and Rick Prime arcs — whereas additionally delivering on-self contained, episodic “basic Rick and Morty adventures” that followers have come to count on from the raunchy animated comedy. 

Harmon elaborates by saying: “There’s clearly been plenty of shakeups and transitions which have occurred which might be fortunately coinciding with a few of these canonical storylines being resolved. If I might set a framework for followers of the present, it’s the outdated characters and all this stuff, however it’s like, this is a chance for a rebirth. I imply, the form of canonical issues like trying to find Rick Prime, these are issues that come out of the ether, after which they purchase this gravity, after which they turn into a canonical serialized story.”

“I believe folks ought to count on extra random embers capturing off of that fireside and turning into organically gigantic serialized issues of their very own.” 

Nonetheless, Harmon admitted that he’s nonetheless “allergic to serialized, canonical stuff” and that followers can nonetheless proceed to count on a slew of episodic episodes harking back to these “basic,” self-contained episodes: “I’ll all the time goal the episodic personally. As a result of, like, your job is to struggle gravity. And gravity is serialization. That’s what occurs organically; gravity is a good factor. However you’re alleged to need to fly.”

“Eight can have plenty of related stream and vibes to 6 and 7, which is sort of a cool stability of foolish and one-up canonical stuff,” Marder says. “That’s the stuff I would like as a fan. And that’s the stuff that Harmon and I work on all jammed collectively. I’m actually happy with these final couple of seasons; they’re type of the proper mix of what I search for as a fan.”

As for Evil Morty particularly, Marder confirms that we have now not seen the final of him: “We are able to count on to see him sooner or later. We definitely have plans and grand designs with him, for certain.” 

With Justin Roiland, co-creator and authentic voice of each Rick and Morty, ousted from the present, the staff needed to pivot and forged the subsequent technology of voice actors who’d don the enduring lab coat and yellow shirt.

Enter Ian Cardoni and Harry Belden, the brand new voices of Rick and Morty, respectively. When requested what particular sauce the brand new voices had that made them good for the gig, Marder praises their talents to “nail” all elements of their voices, not simply Rick’s loud cadence and scream.

“For Ian, who performs Rick, it was definitely the conversational facet of Rick, which was like a a lot harder-to-nail facet of Rick’s voice than most individuals gave Roiland credit score for. Everybody that got here within the door to do Rick screamed and felt like they wanted to deal with that scream, however that’s simply not Rick plenty of the time. Ian labored on the other half that many individuals weren’t specializing in,” Marder says. After which related stuff with Harry simply capable of hit these tones. They’re such a breath of recent air, and I respect the vitality and enthusiasm they bring about as simply these guys who received to inherit this world.”

Lastly, Harmon and Marder received to bask in some standard fan theories spun from Season 7. Notably, MatPat from the YouTube channel Movie Theorists proposed that the present is organising Mr. Poopy Butthole to be the most recent villain due to what he views as a season-long characterization that foils the event and progress that Rick has undergone this season.

In response, Harmon quips, “Shit. Nicely, now we will’t try this, or he can sue us, proper? Good job, web! You blew it once more!”

“No, in all seriousness, I do love that man a lot; I need to encourage these sorts of theories. I really like, love that stuff. I really like him, notably the quantity of vitality he places into that stuff,” Harmon says. For his half, Marder confesses that that’s “not their plan for him,” however that it’s an attention-grabbing principle, “I all the time love what followers take and run with in any present.”

“Rick and Morty” will return for Season 8 in 2025, however followers can now watch the preview for the primary season of spin-off “Rick and Morty: The Anime,” which is able to premiere this yr.