If you haven’t heard, it’s an awkward year to be at San Diego Comic-Con, but it might be a particularly awkward Comic-Con year for Rick and Morty. For most TV shows and movies, the WGA and SAG fair contracts strikes have prevented studios from filling their panels with the writers and actors who usually promote the shows as part of their contract. This has generally resulted in a scaled back convention. Many panels have been canceled altogether, but for those that are not – inclusive Rick and Morty‘s 10th Anniversary Panel – there’s been a lot of talk (and perhaps more often no-talk) about the strikes.
For Rick and MortyIt’s not just the strikes they’re facing, though, but the ongoing fallout from the departure of series co-creator and voice actor Justin Roiland. Roiland was fired by Adult Swim earlier this year after allegations of domestic violence and sexual misconduct came to light earlier this year. It was the other elephant in the room on today’s panel, as executive producer Steve Levy, producer Suzanne Belk, supervising director Jacob Hair, and lead character designer Elisa Phillips took the stage to share concept art from one of the show’s Emmy-nominated episodes, tease what they could about an upcoming season, and briefly touch on the recasting of Rick and Morty’s voices.
Rick and Morty Season 7 will recast Justin Roiland
eponymous Rick and Morty main protagonists (Rick and Morty) were previously voiced by series co-creator Roiland. Since he was fired, fans of the panel were extremely curious to see what the future of these beloved characters will literally sound like. One fan – cosplay as The boys character The Deep – asked about the voice recasting process for the show’s main cast, specifically whether the new actors would be “soundalikes” or whether they would be an entirely new interpretation of the characters.
They’re sound-alikes. The characters are the same characters. No change,” Levy said clearly and without hesitation. On the completion status of the process, he said, “We are nearing the end of our process of the realignment.”
Overall, Levy certainly stressed that he felt good about the changes. “I want to say it’s going to be great. I’m blown away by everything that’s going on, including all the work on Season 7. Really, that’s what I don’t want to overshadow.
The show is as good as it’s ever been.”
When is Rick and Morty season 7 coming?
When is that next season? Sooner than you think, but not soon enough that Adult Swim allowed one of the people on stage to tell us. “I think the best I can say is pretty soon,” Levy said, before adding that the episodes for all of season 7 are “in the can,” with some of seasons 8 and 9 also written. (Rick and Morty has been extended through Season 10.)
That said, given that the voice recasting process for Rick and Morty is, as previously mentioned, not yet complete, we’ll probably have to wait a bit longer for new episodes. More broadly, Levy spoke of the seventh season as a mix of one-off episodes and “the more Rick-focused, canonical episodes that fans really love.
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Squanchy (and other fan favorites) will return
When the show returns, it will bring back some beloved characters. When a fan came to the mic to ask if Rick Squanchy’s recurring cat character and friend would be back, Levy confirmed that Squanchy and Rick’s “whole gang of friends” would be back in the season 7 premiere.
Poopybutthole. “There is certainly a lot to look forward to this season, and I promise you, Squanchy will Squanch again,” said Levy.
(If you’re wondering, there don’t seem to be any concrete plans to bring back Naruto Smith, aka Giant Incest Baby, and an impromptu audience poll on the subject proved inconclusive.)
The Rick and Morty anime is almost here
The last surprise Adult Swim had in store Rick and Morty fans at SDCC was a first look at the upcoming Rick and Morty: The Anime, which was announced last year. The 10-episode anime series’ psychedelic, sometimes dreamy visuals were led by director Takashi Sano, who previously worked on the Tower of God anime and directed two anime shorts, set in the Rick and Morty universe: “Rick and Morty vs. Genocider” and “Summer Meets God (Rick Meets Evil).” The anime will adapt themes and events from the main series, but is an original standalone series. In a pre-recorded video message played to the fans in attendance, Sano said, “What I’ve been trying to accomplish in these 10 episodes is to bring all my favorite parts of Rick and Morty and compress them to express their essence and then add a unique Japanese twist.