‘Rick and Morty’ Season 6 Showrunners Confirm That Evil Morty Will Return

For years, Rick and Morty fans have been haunted by questions the series has danced around. But not Season 6. Instead of dancing around the mysteries of last season’s cliffhanger, “Solaricks” confronts them directly. It’s a shift that was very much intentional.

“What I’ve learned to do is listen to the younger writers,” series creator and executive producer Dan Harmon told Decider. “It’s been on the air for 10 years. Not a lot of episodes, but 10 years is a long time [Editor’s Note: Rick and Morty premiered in 2013 but was picked up by Adult Swim in 2012]. It means that some of these younger writers might almost say that they grew up watching the show. You can at least say that they are fans of the show, that they care about it, and that they’re much more connected to the viewer than I am. I kind of take my cues from them now where I’m learning to do that. I trust them when they say, ‘Time to resolve this’ and ‘This is what people care about.'”

Season 6 showrunner Scott Marder noted that after Season 5’s cliffhanger, it was necessary to have another plot-heavy episode. “We had a lot that we had to wrap up. And an episode that was able to do that as well as kick off a lot of cool new things in a really organic way, that really excited us,” Marder told Decider.

Speaking of those cliffhangers, Season 5 ended on two major ones, the first having to do with Evil Morty. By sacrificing the lives of the Citadel, Evil Morty was able to break through the Central Finite Curve. The final shot of the episode saw him opening a gold portal and traveling to a universe where Rick isn’t necessarily the smartest man.

“Evil Morty didn’t destroy [the Central Finite Curve]. He pierced through it, right? He’s on the other side of it. We will eventually see where he is. Maybe not Season 6, though,” Harmon teased.

Though it may be a while before we see Evil Morty again, “Solaricks” immediately dives into a major problem from last season’s finale. Thanks to Evil Morty’s actions, portal travel is broken “for a bit.” This change presented some fun challenges for the writers room.

“Rick doesn’t always have his get-out-of-jail-free card,” Marder said. “And so much of this show is space as well. You may forget just how limitless that is, that it’s not as stifling as you maybe think”

At least in the first two episodes that were offered to critics, portal travel being down has led to Rick depending more on his family, particularly Summer. Marder revealed that’s a trend that will continue “here and there” “I mean, certainly I would say there is more family interconnectivity as a result of the first episode, for sure.”

New episodes of Rick and Morty premiere on Adult Swim Sundays at 11/10c p.m.