‘Rick and Morty’ Season 6: What Fans Need to Know

Wubba Lubba Dub-Dub! Rick and Morty Season 6 is in the works and all we can expect is the unexpected. Each season of Rick and Morty heightens the bar when it comes to balancing ridiculous antics and a deepening through-line. And we’re sure that the sixth season will continue to deliver, whether that be through more mind-bending shenanigans or storylines with more continuity.

Here’s all we know about Rick and Morty Season 6 so far.

Rick and Morty Season 5 Recap

So… Season 5 of Rick and Morty, am I right?

The writers have to top themselves every season to keep fans guessing, and boy did they succeed. 

The Season 5 finale packed some important canon revelations. 

Season 5 Episode 10 revealed that C-137 is not the smartest Rick in the multiverse.

He is merely the smartest Rick within the Central Finite Curve, a walled-off portion of the universe where his intelligence tops all others, including every other Rick Sanchez. 

But all hell breaks loose by the end of the episode when a black hole swallows the Curve. So in Rick and Morty Season 6, Rick C-137 will not be the smartest man in the universe. President Morty escapes to an undisclosed location. 

We also have almost certain confirmation of Rick C-137’s backstory. With the way the show plays with time, continuity, and canon, it’s almost impossible to know for sure when something is definitely true and not in some alternative universe. 

The Story Train episode, anyone?

Rick Sanchez becomes Rick Sanchez

But for now, this is the story we’ve been fed on how Rick Sanchez becomes Rick Sanchez.

Similar to the made-up story he creates in his mindscape to trick the Galactic Federation Prison Guards into letting him take control in the premiere of Season 3, his original wife Diane and young Beth were killed by an alternate Rick. 

He invents the portal gun in order to kill the Killer Rick. The Citadel is formed as a way to stop his mass murder. 

He then finds a different Beth as an adult, which explains why he “abandoned” her until she grew up. He never knew this one as a child anyway.

Oh, and ever wondered why Beth and Jerry always end up together? Even though they are absolutely horrible for each other? We’ve got an answer to that, too.

It was revealed in the first episode, where we meet Evil Morty (now President Morty), that Mortys have a natural shielding in their brain waves that renders a Rick virtually invisible. In order to hide the Citadel, Rick creates a program that manipulates as many Beths and Jerrys as possible to procreate so that they have enough Mortys to shield the base.

Even for Rick, that’s messed up.

Rick and Morty Cast

Many of the main and secondary characters are voiced by creator Justin Roiland. He already has enough on his plate voicing the two titular characters of the show, but he also voices smaller characters like Mr. Poopybutthole, who we hope will at least make his traditional end-of-season recap on his love life. 

We of course need Jerry, Beth, and Summer, so you can count on Chris Parnell, Sarah Chalke, and Spencer Grammer to return. Hopefully, we get Chalke voicing Space Beth as well.

There are also some tried and true secondary characters, such as Kari Wahlgren as Jessica and Dan Harmon as Birdperson/Pheonixperson, and now Mr. Nimbus.

We might see newcomers from Season 5, such as Alison Brie as Planetina, Christina Ricci as Princess Poñeta, and Darren Criss as Bruce Chutback return for Season 6.

As always, it’s great to hear Keith David as the President of the United States. So we hope he returns as well.

Rick and Morty Production

The early years of Rick and Morty were very stop and go, with fans waiting a while between seasons. The team was always waiting on the green light from Adult Swim to continue production, and animating such a complicated show is no small task. 

However, Adult Swim’s decision back in 2018 to order 70 more episodes of Rick and Morty has freed the team up to start planning well in advance. The writers can craft multiple seasons at a time. And they can think ahead to where they want the story to go. Instead of wondering how much they can cram into a 10 episode season.

Season 5 was part of that 70 episode count.

Newfound Freedom

On the newfound freedom, Dan Harmon said at Adult Swim Con in 2020, “It’s a crazy situation to be in because this show has notoriously kept everyone behind schedule. The artists have always been waiting for scripts. And now, finally, we’re trying to change that game and have them always have something to draw, while we move ahead. And so we’re there now.”

Rick and Morty writer Cody Ziglar took to Twitter in August 2021 to announce that in the writer’s room, they wrapped on Season 7, which leads us to believe that Season 6 must be well underway. They started writing Season 7 before Season 6 was even animated.

On Interdimensional RSS, a popular Rick and Morty podcast, producer Scott Marder said in his August 2021 interview, “We’re towards the end of writing season 7 right now. We’ve really gotten the show moving, but that’s to say season 6 is animating, everything’s in the process.”

He confirms Ziglar’s tweet and assures us that Season 6 is in the animating stage. Animating one minute of the show reportedly takes up to four weeks, according to Bardel Entertainment’s Nathan Litz. That’s why getting the green light to get the scripts into production is such a game-changer on a season’s turnaround time.

Rick and Morty Season 6 Release Date

With all there is to consider, from the changing production pattern to COVID delays, there is no set date announced by Adult Swim on when we can expect the sixth season. 

However, with the increased regularity of the season premieres, it’s a safe bet to assume that we will see Rick and Morty Season 6 as early as fall 2022. This theory was confirmed during the Adult Swim Festival in 2021 where a broadcaster announced that Rick and Morty Season 6 should hit your screens sometime in 2022. Hopefully, the crew doesn’t experience any delays and we get the next installment next year as planned.

If you’re looking for a trailer, you’ll have to wait until there’s an announced release date. And those usually drop one to three months before the premiere. So don’t expect a Season 6 trailer until late spring or the beginning of summer at the earliest.

If another season isn’t enough, make sure to keep your ear to the ground on the Rick and Morty spinoff about the Vindicators, which could potentially be released before Rick and Morty Season 6. 

And that’s the waaaaaaay the news goes.

Sound off in our comment section below and let us know your thoughts! And keep checking back for updates on when we’ll see Rick and Morty Season 6 premiere!