Rick and Morty is still riding the coattails of its third and most popular season, but antsy fans are beginning to wonder about the show’s future.
Adult Swim has yet to renew the series despite having a record-breaking third season and becoming a heavily talked-about topic in 2017. Co-creators Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland have hinted that a fourth season is planned, but writers haven’t been working on it and the network hasn’t commented on the show’s status. Recently, however, Harmon appeared on Kevin Smith’s SModcast podcast and said it comes down to difficult contract negotiations.
“The reason we’re not working on Rick and Morty right now ain’t because I figured out that I don’t need to impress you,” Harmon said, as reported by Vice. “It’s because of a little something called contract negotiations and it’s gotten complicated this time around.”
Although upsetting, it’s not entirely surprising. It may, in fact, be a bit of a boring answer. Rick and Morty may be at its peak right now, making it no surprise that people may want more from the network than they previously did. Harmon and Roiland could potentially be asking for a larger staffed writers room, but that’s just speculation at this time. There are a number of reasons as to why negotiations are taking longer than usual, but unfortunately, the mundane and simple reality is that people will be waiting quite some time for a new season.
If it makes you feel better, Roiland feels just as anxious.
“For everyone telling me to get back to work on Rick and Morty (season four) turn your attention to Turner,” Roiland tweeted. “I’m waiting around just like you. Making some cool video games in the meantime though!”
It’s not like Rick and Morty fans aren’t used to waiting, either. There was more than 18 months between the end of Rick and Morty’s second season in 2015 and the third season’s official debut in July 2017. Considering how long we all waited, it seemed to be well worth it by the last episode.
The last update we heard about an estimated arrival date for Rick and Morty’s fourth season was late 2019, according to one writer, so prepare to dig into repeats for a little while longer.