Few animated shows have transcended the medium into popular culture in the same way Rick and Morty have in recent years. Created by Justin Roiland and Dan Harman, Rick and Morty premiered in 2013 to widespread critical acclaim and quickly developed a large cult following. Those fans have catapulted the show into the pop culture phenomenon it is today.

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The creative team behind Rick and Morty has imbued the world with a litany of easter eggs and references for its legion of hardcore fans to dissect and discover. Each episode of Rick and Morty leaves new things to be discovered on each subsequent viewing, ensuring fans keep returning to the series. The show, and its production history, has many fascinating and amusing details many fans of the show will be unaware of.

Bryan Cranston Auditioned For The Role Of Jerry

Bryan Cranston looking serious in Breaking Bad.

Known for his iconic portrayal of Walter White in Breaking Bad, Bryan Cranston has had a career resurgence few could have imagined during his days as the lovable Hal in Malcolm in the Middle. However, if an audition had gone differently, Cranston could have starred as the pathetic Jerry Smith in Rick and Morty.

Known today as one of the most versatile actors working in Hollywood, due to his work on Breaking Bad and Trumbo, Bryan Cranston has starred in a number of critical and blockbuster hits since the end of the iconic AMC series. While Cranston was still working on Breaking Bad in 2013, he auditioned for the role of Jerry in Rick and Morty but ultimately lost out to Chris Parnell (which creator Dan Harmon announced at the 2016 Comic-Con).

There Is A Reference To The Time Eric Stoltz's Was Cast As Marty McFly In The Back To The Future Film 

Even the most casual of Rick and Morty fans will be aware that the show began life as a parody of the iconic 1980s classic Back to the Future, with Rick and Morty standing in for the characters of Doc Brown and Marty. A more obscure Back to the Future reference may have slipped past fans in the season 1 episode “Close Encounters of the Rick Kind.”

In the episode, one of the Ricks is accompanied by a Morty dubbed “Eric Stoltz Morty,” who resembles the actor Eric Stoltz from the movie Mask. The deeper reference here relates to the fact that Eric Stoltz was originally cast as Marty McFly in Back to the Future until he was eventually replaced with Michael J. Fox (via Vulture). With Morty himself being a stand-in for Marty in Back to the Future, the reference works on a number of metatextual levels.

Rick And Morty Paid Homage To David Bowie

David Bowie singing in a concert

In the season 2 episode “Mortynight Run,” Rick and Morty meet the celestial being Fart, who takes Morty on a psychedelic journey during the catchy song "Goodbye Moonmen." What many fans might not know is that the song "Goodbye Moonmen" was designed to honor the late-great David Bowie (via IndieWire).

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The character of Fart in the episode is voiced by Jemaine Clement, who’s one part of the comedy duo Flight of the Conchords. Flight of the Conchords previously parodied the musical stylings of Bowie in the sixth episode, “Bowie,” of their HBO self-titled series (Check it out here). The song "Goodbye Moonmen" is similarly a parody of Bowie’s musical style, particularly Space Oddity and Life on Mars.

Plans For A Feature Film

Morty and Rick looking tense in the Rick and Morty series

Rick and Morty is a very episodic show by its nature, to the point where the show and the fan base seem to be in conflict over the overarching plot of the show. This is best exemplified at the beginning of the brilliant season 3 episode of Rick and Morty, “The Ricklantis Mixup,” where Rick assures Morty that they’re going on a “fun self-contained adventure.” Despite this, the producers of the show have opened up about the possibility of a movie one day.

In an interview with Metro, producer Scott Marder suggested that Rick and Morty will eventually end up on the big screen: (“I wouldn’t be shocked if there was one that comes down the pipe one day,” he said). Co-creator Justin Roiland echoed those statements, saying it’s a matter of “when,” not “if” a Rick and Morty movie happens.

There Is A Nod To Futurama As Planet Express Appears

An image of Planet Express ship flying in Futurama

Rick and Morty is one of the most popular sci-fi shows on television today, but it cannot be understated how much of a debt the show owes to its animated sci-fi predecessor Futurama. Created by Matt Groening in 1999, Futurama pioneered many of the sci-fi concepts frequently explored in the Rick and Morty universe.

A reference to Futurama can be found in the first episode of Rick and Morty’s third season. In “The Rickshank Rickdemption,” eagle-eyed viewers can spot the luminous green Planet Express ship flying overhead as Jerry gets out of his own spaceship at the family home. It’s fitting to see Rick and Morty honor the legacy of one of the greatest animated TV shows ever, and one that broke new ground in the space of animated sci-fi shows.

A Replica of Walter White’s House In Breaking Bad

Walter White's house in a Rick and Morty flashback

The season 3 opener, “The Rickshank Rickdemption,” is one of the best and most iconic episodes of the show’s five-season run. The episode originally aired unannounced on April Fool’s Day in 2017, and launched the McDonald’s Szechuan sauce internet frenzy. With so much happening in an action-packed adventure, the design of Rick’s house may have gone unnoticed.

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For more observant viewers, they will no doubt recognize that the house in Rick’s false memory is an exact replica of Walter White’s house from Breaking Bad. In this false memory concocted by Rick, his similarity to Walter White are pretty obvious; both turned evil after a life-changing tragedy.

Appearances In Other Media

An image of The Simpsons as Rick and Morty characters

As well as referencing the various pop culture texts that inspired its creation, Rick and Morty is no stranger to crossovers with other media. Some of the best characters in Rick and Morty have appeared in a number of different mediums since the show’s inception in 2013.

Most famously, the characters of Rick and Morty appeared in a Simpsons couch gag that closed the long-running animated classic’s twenty-sixth season. The characters also made a brief appearance in the much-derided Space Jam: A New Legacy, and even appeared in a promotional video for the Hideo Kojima game Death Stranding (via YouTube).

The Worst Episode…According To Dan Harman

Rick and Morty with the The Vindicators in the series

Rick and Morty is a show full of excellent and humorous episodes throughout the show’s five-season run thus far, but there are a couple of episodes that fans of the series have a particular dislike for. Episodes like “Gotron Jerrysis Rickvangelion” and “Claw & Hoarder: Special Ricktim’s Morty” are particularly distasteful to fans, largely due to their antiquated and clichéd pot-shots at the Anime and Fantasy genres.

However, the episode of the show that Dan Harman considers to be the worst is the season 3 episode “Vindicators 3: The Return of Worldender” (via CinemaBlend). While the episode doesn’t reach the lofty heights of some of the show’s best episodes, it’s hard to agree that this episode is the worst of the series, particularly after the mixed bag of episodes littered through the show’s fifth season.

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