Meeting with the president of Adult Swim and the executive producer of the series, who explain in particular what will happen after the departure of Justin Roiland.
To celebrate its first decade (and maybe not the last), Rick et Morty made the trip to the Annecy Animation Film Festival, where Adult Swim channel president Michael Ouweleen and executive producer Steve Levy are hosting a panel titled ” Rick and Morty”: 10 years of intergalactic adventures “. A few hours before, we met them on the shores of the lake to discuss the unparalleled destiny of the series, season 7 and obviously the complicated departure of its co-creator, Justin Roiland, who notably dubbed the main characters.
I got quite old when I realized that Rick et Morty was ten years old…
Michael Ouweleen: Don’t tell me! It’s very strange to think that it’s been that long already. The beginnings don’t seem so far away when I think about it… It’s extremely rare to come across such a good series that immediately finds its audience. But very quickly, we had to ask ourselves how to maintain this quality over the long term. During this time, television was changing visibly, as were the public and its habits.
Steve Levy: What’s happened in a decade is crazy. Everyone who participates in the series has been surprised by its longevity. Most of the time in this industry, if you can do three or four seasons, you’re already happy! We saw Rick et Morty going from a niche series on Adult Swim to an international thing with fans all over the world. It’s incredible.
Do you understand why this series with completely crazy SF concepts speaks to people all over the world?
MO: I guess it’s because basically it’s a family sitcom. If you think about it, Rick and Morty is mostly about the relationship between a grandfather and his grandson. Even if we decided to remove all this interdimensional portal story, I’m sure it would still be a fun series. But by colliding the sitcom and the multiverse, then the result becomes completely unpredictable. I believe that is what works.
SL: There’s also something about the human experience, which is universal. Seeing Rick and Morty grapple with life’s big questions that no one has the answers to is cathartic. The series says that in fact, we absolutely do not want to have the answers! It allows you to put things into perspective, to remember that only the present matters. So it doesn’t matter if you are American, French or Japanese: everyone is able to understand that. Add a few scatophile jokes, well-written monsters and characters, and you have a hit (Laughter.)
How to start writing an episode of Rick et Morty ?
SL: By a somewhat stupid idea, often. And funny. When a screenwriter in the play says something that makes us laugh, we always try to dissect the idea. History to see if there is not something else behind.
Like a challenge?
SL: Yeah, absolutely. There’s a joy in figuring out how to build a whole story around a stupid joke, or at least one that seems perfectly harmless.
MO: Sometimes when I read the scripts – because I read them all since it’s my role to validate each episode – I wonder how much they push the envelope just to see how I will react (Laughter.) But what makes me say yes to all of this is that it’s still damn clever. Whether it’s something completely silly or a reflection on something deeper, it’s never meant to shock. Each time, it says something about the human condition. So I have to say yes!
Have you ever taken anything back?
MO: I sometimes turned down certain things, but only because I felt it undermined their work and didn’t showcase the intelligence of the script.
The series is quite sparing in red threads. There are many episodes on “Evil Morty”, the Citadel and Rick’s wife, but we feel that you don’t want to go too far…
SL: Dan Harmon, the co-creator of the show, grew up watching 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. I don’t see us writing a series with a red thread to follow every week, it would be too hard. Imagine ten seasons of this on Rick et Morty ! We would end up making episodes just to make episodes and feed the story as best we can. We would put a ball on our feet. The concept has always been to go from one adventure to another. On the other hand, we had to feel the characters evolve, and that’s where these somewhat special episodes on Evil Morty or Rick Prime come in. But always in small touches, otherwise we would risk saying too much and we would have nothing more to say! The rule is that there must be at least one episode each season evoking the “big story”. That way people are rewarded for continuing to watch the show. By the way, we have some very cool things in stock for season 7…
Who will be released in September?
MO: We haven’t announced it, but it will be this year. We try to keep roughly the same dates every year.
Justin Roiland having been fired, what will happen to the voices of Rick and Morty and the other characters he dubbed?
MO: He will be replaced in dubbing.
By imitators of his voice? There are many.
MO: No, not imitators… In any case the idea is that we feel that they are the same characters. Listen: voices are obviously super important in an animated series. And, of course, none of us wanted to go through what we went through. But I’ve been in animation for a long time, and I know that what makes a series is its different parts coming together. If the voices are obviously a big part, there is also the writing of the characters, their design… I have reason to believe that the transition will go well.
SL: The writing quality has never been better, and all the screenwriters have stayed. I don’t think anyone will bat an eyelid hearing the new voices.
But is anyone watching Rick et Morty and who is not aware of the departure of Justin Roiland could not realize that the voices have changed?
MO: Yes, I believe it is possible.
Forgive me for insisting, but only one person will replace Roiland?
SL: We are still in the recruitment process…
MO: But it’s looking good. It’s a rather unique situation… I’ll take an example: there have been several great Bugs Bunny voice actors, and I love what Jeff Bennett has done with them. But it’s not Mel Blanc! And yet we recognize the character. I even think that for Rick and Morty we will do even better… It will be fine. It’ll be great.
To stay on the subject, how did you experience the ousting of Justin Roiland and the media noise that this generated?
SL: The pill was hard to swallow. We were shocked and disturbed by what happened. But we stuck together and we put all our energy into the series. We decided to stay positive, and in the end we produced the best drawings, scenarios and animations of the entire series. And Dan Harmon (the co-creator of Rick et Morty) has always been in the trenches with us, every step of the way. He always has an eye on everything, and sometimes that means he asks us to rewrite entire scripts, but for the good of the series. He never walked away after Justin left.
MO: There’s no guide on how to react to this stuff. And it’s not normal to experience that. Of course it’s hard, of course it hurts. But when a whole team works on a series, the series actually becomes more important than one person. Season 7 will be pivotal, we know it, but I think we’ve never done better so far.
SL: In addition, season 8 is already fully written, and we managed to draw a good part of season 9 before the writers’ strike. So we are already talking about season 10!
Who will be the final season? Or do you want to do like The Simpsons and never stop?
SL: Good question that, Michael. Answer, I’m interested!
MO: The series has already answered it: “ Rick and Morty forever ! » (Laughter.)
SL: We could go on forever. The series is a vehicle for great sci-fi ideas, which have been around for a long time elsewhere. We obviously didn’t invent the multiverse, but we made it known to an audience that didn’t know the concept. We are inspired by great science fiction and there are still a million ideas to be exploited. And even if the multiverse is used absolutely everywhere now – to the point that it becomes tiring – we are ready to bounce back. It’s an exciting challenge. What could we do after the multiverse? So much more you will see in future seasons. We want originality. We want to push the limits.
The first six seasons of Rick and Morty are available on Adult Swim (included in Prime Video’s Warner pass) and on Netflix.
