“Liters of cum, maybe it was too much!” Confessions of the creator of Rick and Morty

Dan Harmon and his showrunner, Scott Marder, decipher the crazy animated series, currently in its 7th season, and give us the keys to better understand where it is going.

More than a pop-culture phenomenon, Rick and Morty revolutionized the animated series by pushing the politically incorrect sliders ever further. Elusive, inexplicable, the comedy vaguely inspired by Marty McFly and his Doc remains a gem of the small screen, while its seventh season is currently being broadcast on Adult Swim.

But how are the crazy episodes of Rick and Morty ? And where is the series going? We asked the question to the creator Dan Harmonalone in charge since the departure of Justin Roilandas well as the current showrunner, Scott Marder.

I just finished the episode “Spaghetti” from season 7, where the entrails of the inhabitants of planet 42-Kepler-B are transformed into a delicious dish of Spaghetti Bolognese, when they commit suicide. Just…why?
Dan Harmon : So this is not a platform! We’re not really trying to say anything through this story. It’s not our style to tell people what they should think… In fact, we take themes that are debated in society and from there, we spin stories. For the episode “Spaghetti”, everything started with the movement which defends the “right to die” in the United States. It is a subject that divides American society. I don’t know what it’s like in Europe, but in the United States, there is a lot of debate about assisted suicide. It’s a very dark subject that we wanted to couple with another very controversial subject: the good old debate on intensive breeding. It was Heather Anne Campbell, one of our darkest authors, who came up with this idea. We thought it was great and we left there.

But is there a message behind all this? Like: don’t try to know what you’re eating?
Dan Harmon : No, there is no subtext message. Besides, I read some reviews on this episode, who found it a shame that we didn’t go further in the explanation. But I can’t agree with that. It would have sucked if Rick had ended the episode by saying, “And this is why you have to do this or that…”

This episode was particularly gory. Aren’t you afraid of going overboard with trash sometimes?
Scott Marder : No, I don’t think we have this objective. We spend our time inventing different things, we hang tons of ideas on the writing room wall, over and over again. Some grab our attention more than others, but not because they’re darker or crazier.

I remember this episode around Rick’s sperm (Rickdependence Jetin 2021) which caused quite a stir at the time of its broadcast…
Dan Harmon : It’s true that the public was surprised… (laughs) Many spectators found it too disgusting, and not moving enough. I’m not one of those people who thinks that salacious comedy or salacious stuff is the key to making people laugh. That’s not what necessarily makes me laugh. But in Rick and Morty, we do what we want and we see on the job. Afterwards, it’s true that the reaction to this episode on sperm made me think. I believe that fans of Rick and Morty don’t appreciate dirt for dirt’s sake. It takes meaning. So I don’t think we’ll do something like that again. Tons of liters of cum, maybe it was too much.
Scott Marder : It was clearly a safeguard that we didn’t see coming!

Do you have a red line? A limit that you refuse to cross?
Dan Harmon : Yes, but not graphically or anything. It’s more of a creative thing. I think I don’t want to betray the audience on an emotional level. I don’t want to trick people into feeling something about a character and then make fun of them in the process. It’s very counterproductive. People need to have confidence in the series. That’s my limit: if we write something that doesn’t care about the public’s feelings, we actually destroy the product. We damage the brand Rick and Morty.

Are there any ideas that you preferred to abandon along the way?
Scott Marder : We do what comes naturally in reality. All the slightly crazy ideas we may have need, in any case, to be strong enough to support the narration of an entire episode. And most of the time, our ideas or concepts don’t hold up well enough to follow through. We give up a lot of things along the way. So what ends up on your screens is ultimately the natural selection of the strongest concept.

Coming back to season 7, we have the feeling that you returned to something more episodic, abandoning the mythology of the multiverse. Was that the objective?
Scott Marder : Yes and no. For me, a perfect season has a very light serial arc in the background, but that doesn’t prevent you from enjoying the series from one episode to the next, if you don’t follow diligently. It’s a balance to find. In season 7, we always have in the background this long-term story of Rick against his sworn enemy, this other Rick who killed his wife. This is always the common thread.

The Cartoon Network group has ordered 70 episodes of Rick and Morty in 2018. You have what it takes to see it coming. So, do you already know how the series will end?
Scott Marder : There are quite a few scenarios that have been pitched. We have several different options on the table that are very exciting. And that’s all I can say about it…

Season 7 of Rick and Morty continues every Monday on Adult Swim in France.