The Smith family is back with Rick and Morty season 6 part 2, which begins on November 20. The remaining episodes of the latest season will see the titular scientist heading back out into the multiverse with his grandson after the sentient race of dinosaurs from episode 6 fix the time rift preventing his interdimensional travel.
Justin Roiland returns to lead the cast of Rick and Morty season 6 part 2 alongside Spencer Grammer, Sarah Chalke, and Chris Parnell. With his portal gun now fixed, audiences can look forward to the same wild multiverse adventures they've come to know and love from the long-running Adult Swim series.
In anticipation of its return, Screen Rant spoke exclusively with stars Sarah Chalke and Chris Parnell to discuss Rick and Morty season 6 part 2, Domestic and Space Beth's romantic relationship, Jerry's latest adventure with Rick, the resurgence of positive fan reception, and more.
Sarah Chalke & Chris Parnell on Rick & Morty Season 6
Screen Rant: Last time we talked, neither of you had actually been able to see any Rick and Morty season 6 episodes for yourselves. Have you been able to see the episodes, and what have been your takeaways?
Sarah Chalke: Yeah, we got to watch them, and I'm just constantly kind of blown away by, well obviously the writing when we get to read the scripts, but now, after having seen the episodes, the animation and just how beautiful it is, and the colors, and the art direction, is so incredible. AI feel like each episode had a bit of a unique [style], like "Night Family," for example, the look of that whole episode was so cool.
Then obviously, since we record separately, you don't get to hear anyone else until you're watching it, so to hear what everybody else is dealing with, it's always really fun. But then especially with an episode like "Night Family," where when you went into record, there was no roadmap of — like, when I was reading, I was like, "Okay, so what are we doing with our voices? What's it going to sound like?" So, to get to hear everybody's come together like that was really fun to watch.
Chris Parnell: Yeah, that was what I was especially excited [about]. The thing was, I just felt like it went so fast. All of them kind of feel that way to me, but I felt like, for whatever reason, "Night Family" went by really fast, and I wanted more of it. But, yeah, it's always such a treat to see, because between the time that we read it and record it, and actually get to see it, is a pretty decent stretch, even though it's not nearly as long as it used to be. So, it's just fun as a fan of the show that gets to enjoy what we've all put together.
Since you both brought up "Night Family", that is one of the more unique episodes of the season so far. Sarah, you mentioned there was no real roadmap for how anybody was supposed to voice their night person. What was that like for each of you, Sarah and then Chris, finding that exact voice for your night counterpart?
Sarah Chalke: We had Rob, who wrote the episode, was directing us, and kind of helping us figure it out and find it. Going into the booth that day, I had no preconceived notions of what it was going to be, and so we just kind of tried it. I feel, it was a long time ago, but I feel like it just kept getting a little bit further and further away from our own voice, and then it got slower, and longer, and deeper, and it was more hoarse. I think we recorded it, and then we went back and did pickups, every time I recorded that episode, I had no voice the next day for a couple of days. It really pulls out your vocal cords.
Chris Parnell: Yeah, I think Spencer might have recorded hers before I did mine. I think Rob just sort of did a version of what Spencer did, so I was like, "Okay, okay, that's kind of what's happening," but I don't know, I guess there's a familiar sort of spooky voice that is out there. I'm sure there's specific horror movies and things that we're pulling from, but for me anyway, maybe it's the little old woman from Poltergeist or something. There are these weird, sort of spooky, voices out there that, for me, certainly informed what I did.
Sarah, you have what I think is probably the wildest storyline of the show yet, with the two Beths dating one another. What was your first reaction when you saw that was the direction that they wanted to go with both Beths for this season?
Sarah Chalke: I had no idea, and I read the script, and it's like, as the viewer, I'm sure when you're watching it, you're like, "Oh, wait, this is going there, oh my god, this is going there." I thought it was great, and I just loved how they wrote it, and I loved how it kind of becomes a love story between these two characters, and kind of catches you off guard, but that's what's gonna happen, and I like that you get to see this whole new side of both Beths.
I think it's really cool that they're having space Beth stick around a little bit, selfishly, it's really fun to get to play both of them, and has been a unique, fun challenge. But, yeah, it was fun to record, and I remember just thinking, "I hope that the sound booth is good at keeping sound inside the booth as it is at keeping out sound outside the booth," because otherwise, the young children running around might have thought it was a little bit strange. [Chuckles] "Mom, what's going on in there?" Because, obviously, you're acting by yourself, so when there's kissing sounds, it's just like you and your hand.
When you run through it, you go through one take as one character, then you go through it as the other. But given that episode is you running off of yourself, what is it like finding those differences for nearly an entire episode's worth of story, instead of maybe a scene or two?
Sarah Chalke: Yeah, for sure, we record them each separately, and go through all of Domestic Beth first, and then all of Space Beth second, because I'll try and clear my throat a bunch in between, and make her a little more raspy. She's got a bit more of an edge, and it is different, because even though we're always recording on our own, it's different when the scene is just actually with yourself. So, it was a fun challenge, and we had lots of time. That's another neat, unique thing about recording this show is that you're never in a rush. You can try something a bunch of different ways, and there's no time cap on it.
As opposed to live-action, where you want to try something in a scene, but it's like 100 people waiting, and you're running the scene. Whereas this, you most often go through it line by line, sometimes you'll do the scene, but usually it's just one line at a time. So, it just feels so freeing, and so liberating, when you know you have the freedom to just take this one line, and you can try it as many times as you want, and it only takes a couple of minutes. So yeah, it just feels like there's no walls holding you back, and there's no confines to what you're doing. Especially for an episode like this, it's really cool, because you can just kind of try it a bunch of different ways.
I do love that you guys take the time to really make sure everything is just consistently good throughout each season. Chris, I love that Jerry and Rick get to have another adventure together this season. I love "The Whirly Dirly Conspiracy", and the fortune cookie is just as much fun. What was your reaction when you saw that you were gonna get to have another Rick and Jerry team up this season?
Chris Parnell: Well, I'm always happy when those happen. Scott Marder sort of gave me a heads up that there was a fun episode coming up with me and Rick, but yeah, it's a crazy episode. But, it was fun to play. Jerry has one main motivating thing, which is to not have sex with his mother, make sure the fortune doesn't come true, and it's crazy how close he ends up coming to that. But yeah, I love it when Jerry and Rick get to have adventures.
They really love taking Jerry on some bizarre turns.
Chris Parnell: They do, and they're fun to go on those.
I'm also an Archer fan, and we've got you over there as well. There are definitely similarities, as much as differences, between Jerry and Cyril, what's that like for you knowing that there are people like me who love both shows, but who still enjoy seeing you play these different, but same, characters?
Chris Parnell: Yeah, they've certainly got a similar way of being in the world. They can be frequently put upon, and manipulated, or just feeling lesser than the other characters. But yeah, they're different enough that it's — the fact that I get to do both is amazing, and the fact that there are fans of both shows who like Jerry and Cyril is just a delight, it's just great.
Sarah Chalke: On that note, I let my son watch his first episode of Rick and Morty last night, and he recognized Chris' voice, he was like, "It's Mr. Thistleton!" Chris and I did a Christmas cartoon together.
What was the episode that you showed your son?
Sarah Chalke: We watched episode 601, Solar Ricks.
Such a great episode. This is an interesting season, too, in that we are getting a hiatus in between the episodes for the first time since season 4. Have you been able to actually see the rest of the episodes for the season in comparison to the last time we spoke, or are you just as in the dark as we are?
Sarah Chalke: Just as in the dark.
Chris Parnell: Yeah. Yeah. I haven't seen anything, except maybe an animatic or something.
Sarah Chalke: But yeah, to your point of saying that everybody wants to make the episodes as good as they are, all the creators and the writers are really so invested in just having episodes come out as good as they can be. So, even once we've recorded them, we'll come back and do pickups, and it'll go through so many stages.
So often, you'll be doing pickups even just a few months before it airs, where they just want to tweak one joke. It's sometimes even already at the animation stage, where it's been animated, but they can just change the lip flap, how your mouth is moving, so you have to fit the line into the same amount of time as what was there previously. So, yeah, everybody just wants it to be as good as it can be.
Chris Parnell: Yeah, and for me, when I'm being directed, I feel like it's primarily Scott Marder, he has me doing a lot of different ways, typically. He'll say, like, "Yeah, that was great, let's try it like this. Great. And now let's add this, it probably won't work, but let's try this." Just to give them options in the audio editing, depending on the energy, and what the thrust of the scene ends up feeling like, which is great. There's such an attention to detail, like Sarah was saying, that even comes down to the way you were directed.
Sarah Chalke: Yeah, and Scott's really great. He has a lot of really interesting ideas and takes that maybe you wouldn't even think of.
Chris Parnell: Yeah, it's what a director should be. I always like being directed by somebody who knows what they're doing, because it's just gonna make my work better, you know?
Do you remember much of what we can expect from the remainder of this season for both of your characters?
Sarah Chalke: Yes, but we can't tell you. [Chuckles] It's kind of like we talked about before, there's a really good balance of — you're gonna get a bit of all of the things that make Rick and Morty great. Sorry, Chris, go ahead.
Chris Parnell: No, I can only kind of remember, and I'm only reminded when I go in to do pickups, or something, like I guess yesterday, or the day before. But, some of that was for season 6, and then some of it was for season 7 as well, which we've been recording.
I think every season is great, but I love that fans have been coming back around this season after a little more of a divisive response to season 5. What is that like for both of you to see this response, even as there is no multiverse?
Chris Parnell: Well, I finally just got on Instagram like a month or so ago, so I'm kind of oblivious to what the fan reaction is, for the most part. I just generally think of everybody as loving it, so if there's a season, like season 5, where it's more divisive, I kind of don't generally know anything about it until somebody asks me a question. [Chuckles] Or, maybe somebody will say something in the booth, but yeah, I'm kind of oblivious.
Sarah Chalke: Yeah, I'm kind of the same as Chris, I don't know. A lot of our interactions with the fans have, for the most part, been at Comic-Con, which has been so exciting and so fun, and I can't wait to get to do that again, because, obviously, during COVID, we didn't get to.
But that's been such a neat way to just watch how Rick and Morty has grown over time, through the eyes of Comic-Con, from the very beginning where the first season, it hadn't even come out, so it's a bunch of questions to Dan about Community, and then the next year, people were catching on, and then the next year there was people dressed up as Rick, and the next year, you see Mr. Poopy Butthole, and it just grew and grew and grew. But, no, that's cool to hear that people are digging season 6.
About Rick & Morty Season 6 Part 2
Rick and Morty is the Emmy® award-winning half-hour animated hit comedy series on Adult Swim that follows a sociopathic genius scientist who drags his inherently timid grandson on insanely dangerous adventures across the universe. Rick Sanchez is living with his daughter Beth’s family and constantly bringing her, his son-in-law Jerry, granddaughter Summer, and grandson Morty into intergalactic escapades.
It’s season six and Rick and Morty are back! Pick up where we left them, worse for wear and down on their luck. Will they manage to bounce back for more adventures? Or will they get swept up in an ocean of piss! Who knows?! Piss! Family! Intrigue! A bunch of dinosaurs! More piss! Another can't-miss season of your favorite show.
Check out our previous Rick & Morty interviews:
- Sarah Chalke & Chris Parnell
- Dan Harmon & Scott Marder
- Justin Roiland & Spencer Grammer
- Lee Hardcastle
Rick and Morty season 6 part 2 begins airing on November 20.