It's time to get riggity riggity wrecked, son, with Rick and Morty season 6. The Adult Swim animated comedy centers on mad scientist Rick Sanchez, his grandson Morty Smith, his daughter Beth, his granddaughter Summer, and his son-in-law Jerry as they get caught up in multiversal adventures.
Justin Roiland, who co-created the series with Dan Harmon, leads the cast of Rick and Morty in the titular roles alongside Spencer Grammer, Sarah Chalke, and Chris Parnell.
Ahead of the show's return, Screen Rant spoke exclusively with creator/star Justin Roiland and star Spencer Grammer to discuss Rick and Morty season 6, the show's long-running success, the evolution of its characters, and more.
CBR: I wanted to start with the two of you getting to really develop performing, because you two really get a lot of time together, in terms of the story, like Rick, Morty and Summer really do get to be kind of the central trio of the show. What has surprised you the most about how their relationship has evolved, especially going into RIck and Morty season 6, where Summer is way more confident and Rick has so much more confidence in Summer, despite her having way less on-screen experience doing this?
Spencer Grammer: I think she’s continuously proved herself over and over again, you know, so we’ve had at least five seasons of —
Justin Roiland: She’s more capable, more trustworthy, smarter—
Spencer Grammer: Thank you. Tell me more.
Justin Roiland: She’s got more of Beth’s genes and his genes, I think, than Jerry’s. I think Rick can sense that.
Spencer Grammer: And she’s got youth on her side, you know?
Justin Roiland: Well, Morty is too, but he’s just an idiot, he’s got too much Jerry in him. But he’s useful, he’s a useful idiot. But yeah, I think if Rick’s got something that you really can’t trust to get f----d up, or that he needs to make sure that it [gets done], he’ll give it to Summer you know, but yeah, I love that about them. But that’s been that way for a little while, I feel like. We’ve [had] evidence of that back in season 3 even, with Morty’s Mind Blowers, specifically.
Spencer Grammer: [It’s like] what you said, she’s actually able to deliver and it’s great, but then also it’s kind of funny when she really messes it up, like [when she] blows the conch shell and then it’s all over again, and you’re like, “You did it all wrong!” There’s a great little bit of comedy you can put in there.
Screen Rant: Well, Spencer and Justin, in case my background’s not obvious, I am a fan of the show.
Spencer Grammer: You like it? [Chuckles]
Justin Roiland No, yeah, look he’s got all the DVDs. This guy likes DVDs.
Screen Rant: Justin, I know at San Diego Comic-Con recently, you spoke about how season 5, in terms of in the writer’s room, was dealing with Mike’s passing and that’s why you felt it was a little weird. So with that, what were your biggest goals coming into season 6 off of 5?
Justin Roiland: Every season’s got its own different, crazy, behind-the-scenes story, right? Like I mean, every single season has something insane. But I think this one has been the most stable, and then because of that and because of [Scott] Marder now being [showrunner] — he obviously was here for 5, you know. But it was just a crazy time. The whole thing was just insane. It was such a transitional kind of period of time. I think now we’re kind of all back to a bit more of stable footing and normality and consistency, just quality across the season. There’s a few dips here and there, but like overall, I think it’s a pretty solid season that will rank up there in what are the best seasons, I’m hoping.
We’ll see, you know, we kind of never know. That’s the other thing is Dan and I and the writers, we never know which ones are gonna be the big popular episode. Like we never thought Pickle Rick was gonna be some huge, jump out thing. I swear to god. We had other episodes that we thought would be more popular. I mean, we loved the episode, don't get me wrong. But we didn’t know, we had no clue, so when that thing blew up, we were like, “Holy s—t, okay.” There was another one that we thought was gonna be the big deal and that one nobody gave a s--t about, so. [Chuckles]
Spencer Grammer: Nobody [Laughs]. I mean, you’re living within the world of a show that the ones I think that people like is never—it just has to all align properly. We’ve gotten the question a lot of like, “How did we get here? How did we get to this place where the show is so popular everywhere?” I keep thinking about it, because you don’t really know why, but there must have been something missing in this space, right? Like this kind of like animation that looked like this, with the way that we were speaking, very realistically, like I think there was like, I think it was needed.
We wanted to be entertained this way, so we have a lot of shows now like this, but for whatever reason, they’re still doing a great job, we’re still doing a great job of like—the storytelling is still just really good and the characters are still really good and the comedy is still really funny and relevant, you still have this world that was built 10—11 years ago [Laughs], We’ve been able to sustain that and it’s slowly grown over time. But you never know when that’s gonna hit. It’s sort of like the Stranger Things effect, right? No one wanted to make that show and then they made it and it’s this huge phenomenon, and they were like, “We couldn’t get anyone to make this show for years,” it was just a crazy idea, right?
I had been in a situation where I had done another show and they were like, “Sorry, you’re gonna have to leave this,” and I was like, go f--k yourselves, this is the only thing I like. I don’t care if I don’t make any money on this show. This show brings me joy every time I read a script, every time I go in there and record this character, I laughed my a-- off, I’m proud of the work.” I was like, “I will go work in an office, there’s no way I’m not doing this show.”
Justin Roiland: We’re very, very lucky with the cast we have, and I think that’s also part of it is just having the chemistry right out of the gate with our cast and the performances we have right out of the gate, from even season 1. That’s a good point you made though about maybe something missing, I can tell you we were having a hard time getting a sci-fi concept through the gate. This was around the time that Futurama was canceled. Sci-fi was not profitable, it was not doing as well. Executives saw sci-fi and they were like, “Eh-eh, nope, that’s a not—it’s a dirty word.”
So that, for sure, was the climate at the time and then we were able to get one past the goalie. Obviously, it was a very smart goalie who knew what they were doing and let us make the show we wanted to make and here we are. But yeah, I’m just a big sci-fi fan, so anything that’s well-crafted, well-written, that has stakes, has consequences and takes, takes its canon and things that have happened seriously, and plans things really well, doesn’t just fly by the seat of its pants—I’m not referencing anything specific here but um —
Spencer Grammer: You’re just throwing Star Wars [shade]. Don’t quote me on that, that was a joke, okay? I love Star Wars, okay?
Justin Roiland: I didn’t say it, I didn’t say it.
CBR: Something that I really, really love about the show [is] it does so many big, broad sci-fi bits. Spencer alone, you’ve survived Mad Max, you killed it in Mad Max, you’ve been part of Voltron, you got Wolverine claws, and do a Die Hard within the first few episodes of this new year. But the characters are so grounded and so focused on, like you said, speaking like people actually speak. How do you balance that as performers? And Justin, a little bit even just as from the creative side? What is it like to find that balance between hard and high fun, kooky sci-fi and these people are just people, they’re just bouncing off each other?
Spencer Grammer: I mean, most of my life is spent imagining crazy s--t — I don't know why, but like in general, in my life, I’m like, “How would I react to this in my life?” To me, it’s very grounded, ‘cause like I’m like, “Well, crazy s--t happens all the time, you don’t know, there could be a comet that comes out of the sky right now, we might all be dying everybody, and what would you do?” Like, remember, we all must die one day, and you have to experience life.
Justin Roiland: [Laughs] We’re all so morose when it comes to life. Or maybe we’re healthy, I don't know, maybe we’re really healthy. But yeah, I think that in performing them, it’s like just having fun and making sure that the performances are grounded and real. We’ve got a really phenomenal cast that delivers it all, on every line, it’s just phenomenal. Then there is the silliness, for Rick and Morty in particular sometimes, where I’ll go off script and improv a little bit between the two of them, and you kind of sometimes can notice that stuff, sometimes you don’t notice it, it, it integrates in pretty well sometimes.
That’s always a fun component to the show, but by and large, when the s--t hits the fan and it needs to feel real and the characters give a s--t, like yeah, then it’s like, “Okay, we’ve got to sell that with our performances,” and that’s any good show that cares. But a lot of cartoons, that isn’t their number one, that’s not a pillar or a parody, their primary focus is comedy and jokes, jokes, jokes, which we try to do too, but we also have consequences and stakes and stuff that will ripple across seasons. Not every show has to do that to win me over, but I do appreciate the ones that try, ‘cause it’s just more interesting.
But I mean, I f-----g love South Park, it might even be my No. 1 favorite animated show. They’ll do it a little bit here and there, play with that in a season. Clearly, nowadays, they’re doing these crazy serialized seasons that are just f-----g incredible.
Rick and Morty Season 6 Synopsis
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 other interview with Rick and Morty stars Sarah Chalke & Chris Parnell and co-creator Dan Harmon and producer Scott Marder.
Rick and Morty season 6 premieres on Adult Swim on September 4.