The year is 2020, and the wacky scientist and his grandson who graced our TVs from late 2013 are finally back. The wait has been long and cumbersome, but we’ll see their not-so-friendly animated faces again for the second instalment of season four tonight. Stuff had the opportunity to interview Chris Parnell (that is the wonderfully sensitive father-character Jerry) about the upcoming content for Rick and Morty.
After a lengthy hiatus of three years, the fourth season aired late in 2019. But strangely, we only got to see the dynamic duo go on five new adventures. We’ve been waiting for more Rick and Morty content since, but it looks like Adult Swim is schwiftly working to bring us more episodes.
“They wanted to get those first five out there as early as they could and it was just gonna be a gap until they could get the next five completed. There was a big gap between season three and four because there was no deal for so long with Adult Swim. The writers had come up with some stories (that we saw in the first half of season four) so those were pre-loaded and once we got going on those, they had to finish writing and polishing those and worked on the second half of season four,” Chris Parnell details the strange gap in the current season.
Is Jerry in quarantine?
Worry no more, because our Rick and Morty wishes have come true. Thanks to Showmax, South Africans will have access to new weekly episodes of the animated show just 24 hours after they air in the US. That is, every Monday night we’ll get another new portion of Rick, Morty, Beth, Summer and of course, Jerry. This might help ease the self-isolation distress we’re all feeling at the moment and bring some form of normalcy to our lives.
Forced quarantine and self-isolation methods across the US hasn’t had an adverse effect on the voiceover artist though. Chris explained that being the voice of an animated character makes it far easier to continue work as normal from home. “[As a voice-over artist] you can do voice-overs remotely. I went to one studio to record during the lockdown and they had special coronavirus protocols where I didn’t actually touch anybody. I’ve had to update the little home studio that I use to record auditions — it’s very simple but I’ve upgraded my microphone and got some new equipment and I can actually record from home now. I feel very lucky that I can do that, you know?”
Season 5, say what?
It doesn’t look like Chris is working on season five of Rick and Morty just yet. The actor did give us a better idea about the timeline for the upcoming season (you know, after season four part two), and it looks like we won’t wait another lifetime for the next season. “As we know, they finished producing the next half of season four, and we all know they’re already writing on season five.
“They even have episodes ready to record. I haven’t seen any of the scripts and we haven’t started to record any of it yet. I’m talking to some of the writers and producers. Because we know that we’ve got this big order, I think it’s gonna be a little bit different. They know that they’ve got these episodes coming up and we need to keep making shows at as quick a pace as we can while still keeping the quality of the writing at the high level that it’s always been,” Chris details the upcoming season.
Hungry for Apples?
Adult Swim signed Rick and Morty for another 70 episodes before we got to season four. Which means production has been sped up. We’ll probs see far more of Rick and Morty’s adventures come out at a faster pace in the future. “But knowing that there’s this big order, really changes the game somewhat. Instead of sputtering along from season to season, it’s like ‘Oh we’ve got a lot ahead of us, let’s keep it rolling’. It’s definitely more of an opportunity to work on a quicker timeline.”
Chris was impressed to learn the scope and reach of our favourite grandfather, grandson duo, saying that, “… I realised the reach of the show in a way that I’m normally blindly oblivious to.”
And you know what? We’re forever grateful to have new episodes to binge on Showmax. It may just make staying at home slightly more worth it in the long run. You can catch episode 6 of season four of Rick and Morty on Showmax right now, fam (4 May 2020, if you were unsure).
