Warning: The following contains SPOILERS for Rick and Morty season 5!Rick and Morty season 6 is on the horizon, and recent promotional materials have shown off the series' Wormageddon event — a threat that Evil Morty is probably behind. Not much is known about the new season, besides the fact that Rick and Morty will now change its formula and have a more chronological story. That fact combined with the teaser trailer's shot of the exploding Citadel of Ricks hints that Rick and Morty season 6 will bring Evil Morty back in a big way by making him cause Wormageddon.
Rick and Morty has typically focused on self-contained episodes, but one overarching story introduced in season 1, episode 10, "Close Rick-Counters of the Rick Kind," saw the debut of Evil Morty, a villainous version of Morty from a different dimension. While Evil Morty hadn't played a major role in the lives of C-137 Rick and Morty for most of the show, that changed with the reveal of Evil Morty's motivations at the end of Rick and Morty season 5. He desires to use C-137 Rick to escape the Central Finite Curve, a subset of all the dimensions in which Rick Sanchez is the smartest person. Rick's portals can currently only travel to dimensions within the Central Finite Curve, but now that Evil Morty has scanned Rick's brain, blown up the Citadel, and escaped with a gun that shoots golden portals, there's no telling what the next steps are in his dimension-shattering plans.
Teasers for Rick and Morty season 6 have been slim on details, but they have shown a mysterious egg escaping the Citadel of Ricks, flying through the cosmos, and landing on Earth. While these promotional materials are the first time this egg has been shown, Evil Morty's ambitious plot makes it plausible that he could release the egg to cover his tracks. The teaser then shows the egg's inhabitants attacking the Smith family, and when Rick tries to escape, his portal gun doesn't work. This further supports this theory, as Evil Morty's tearing of the Central Finite Curve could have had this effect on the portal guns. While not yet confirmed, it seems likely that Evil Morty will have been the one to cause Wormageddon.
What The Rick & Morty Season 6 Wormaggedon Egg Is
Although the initial Rick and Morty season 6 teaser didn't show its inhabitants, later promotional materials revealed that the Wormageddon egg is filled with violent alien worms. These trailers show the egg flying through the cosmos and landing in one of Earth's volcanoes, with the worms then hatching from the egg. The alien worms are shown to have grown and reproduced before attacking Rick, Morty, and the Smith family, showing that they're a much greater threat than they'd seemed.
How Rick & Morty Season 6 Could Use Evil Morty To Break A Show Formula
Wormageddon seems like it will be a threat that lasts the entirety of Rick and Morty season 6, and if Evil Morty truly is behind it, that means a break from the series formula. Rick and Morty typically sticks to isolated episodes, with each outing being a self-contained adventure. Rick and Morty has occasionally broken this trend for an episode or two, and many background details show that the series does have a coherent timeline. However, the show has never had something as big as a full-season story arc, and if Evil Morty is truly behind Wormageddon, that would make him the main villain of season 6, finally paying off the years of hints and teases at a grander story.
Rick and Morty season 5 mostly stayed away from a chronological narrative, but the finale and expansion on the Central Finite Curve storyline have already shown that season 6 will probably pick up from where it left off. The explosion of the citadel, the introduction of Evil Morty's plan, and the fact that his theme is playing over the initial Wormageddon teaser all point toward Evil Morty being the antagonist of Rick and Morty season 6. Evil Morty has always been referred to as the main villain of Rick and Morty, but season 6 could finally be the time that he really makes an impact on the show.
Why Rick and Morty’s Season 6 Wormageddon Plot Could Be A Fakeout
One other Wormageddon possibility is that the event is all just a big fake-out. Rick and Morty has been incredibly meta regarding its use of an overarching story, so a fake-out event would be right up the show's alley. It is entirely possible that Wormageddon could simply be a joke, with Rick killing all the worms in the first few minutes of the season 6 premiere before moving on to something else. However, with the emphasis that the advertising has put on the event, it seems more likely than not that Wormageddon will be a major story in Rick and Morty season 6, and that Evil Morty will be the one behind it.