The last few years have been taxing even for the universe-hopping, referential labyrinth of Rick And Morty. Following the ousting of the show’s disgraced co-creator, Justin Roiland, the show never missed a beat—even without the person considered the show’s creative engine. It’s almost as if television shows aren’t made by a single creator and that other funny people are just as capable of writing Rick And Morty adventures.
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With season seven coming to a close, Dan Harmon spoke to Variety about how the show’s “shakeups and transitions” coincided with the show’s “canonical storylines being resolved.” Harmon says he sees this as an “opportunity for a rebirth.”
Harmon, who had previously expressed aversion to serialized plotting, said he would “target the episodic [installments] personally.” That doesn’t mean they’re throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Showrunner Scott Marder assured fans that season eight “will have a lot of similar flow and vibes to six and seven, which is like a cool balance of silly and one-up canonical stuff.”
“That’s the stuff I want as a fan. And that’s the stuff that Harmon and I work on all jammed together,” Marder says. “I’m really proud of these last couple of seasons; they’re sort of the perfect blend of what I look for as a fan.”
Losing a showrunner like Roiland isn’t easy. However, there has been much fan outcry since Ian Cardoni and Harry Belden took over as Rick and Morty’s respective voiceboxes. Roiland, for his part, has been MIA since declaring “justice” and vowing to “restore his good name.” Since then, more allegations of inappropriate and predatory sexual relationships with young fans and admirers have come to light.
“Trust has now been violated between countless people and a show designed to please them,” Harmon told The Hollywood Reporter last September regarding Roiland’s exit. “I’m frustrated, ashamed, and heartbroken that a lot of hard work, joy, and passion can be leveraged to exploit and harm strangers.”