From creators Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon and showrunner/executive producer Scott Marder, the adult animated sci-fi series Rick & Morty kicked off Season 6 by addressing some of the major canon shakeups that played out in last season's finale. While the hit Adult Swim show is showing no signs of slowing down — as of now, it's been renewed through Season 7 by Cartoon Network — it's clear that the series won't always be reliant on standalone "classic Rick and Morty adventures" with no long-term ramifications in play.
While the Season 6 premiere, "Solaricks," unmasked the true villain and Rick Sanchez's ultimate nemesis in Rick Prime (Justin Roiland), it's unclear how the reveal will play out over the remainder of the season's episodes to come as the show returns on November 20 — and now, Rick has a newly repaired interdimensional portal gun to make use of. In addition to Roiland who also voices Rick's grandson Morty, the series stars the voices of Chris Parnell as Jerry Smith, Morty's and Summer's father and Rick's son-in-law, Spencer Grammer as Summer Smith, Morty's sister and Rick's granddaughter, and Sarah Chalke as Beth Smith, Morty's and Summer's mother and Rick's daughter.
Ahead of the show's return, Collider had the opportunity to speak to Rick & Morty's cast about some of Season 6's most pivotal moments so far as well as what fans can look forward to when the second half of the reason returns on Adult Swim. Over the course of the interview, which you can read below, Roiland and Grammer discuss Summer's hidden leadership qualities (as revealed in "Night Family"), whether the reveal of Rick Prime changes Roiland's approach to the character, what will happen to Rick in therapy as teased in the back half of the season, the uptick in jokes about the MCU, and more.
Collider: Spencer, one of the excellent episodes of the season, "Night Family," really establishes Summer as this secret authority in the family. Do you feel like she has an interest in stepping forward as more of a leader? Or are those instincts still subconscious for her?
SPENCER GRAMMER: I don't know what teenage girl doesn't want to lead her family, so I feel like that's definitely something that Summer would feel. I definitely felt that as a teenager. "Why am I still stuck in this house? I should be outside of this house already." I couldn't wait to grow up and get out of my family home and live on my own, honestly. That probably has come across in Summer. But, I mean, I think that's what the nature of being a teenager is, is this sort of self-entitlement, and this idea of escaping your family world in some ways. She would of course be probably the most sociopathic. Plus, she lacks the ability to have a fully developed frontal lobe anyway. She's obviously not acting in the most sane way. You don't officially grow up until you're 30, so I think Summer will never really attain world domination as she feels she deserves.
Justin, at the end of last season, we learned that the show's main Rick is not the ultimate Rick. Instead, Ultimate Rick has a more significant role. Did that plot twist change your approach to voicing the character at all? Or did it inform your approach heading into Season 6 now?
JUSTIN ROILAND: No, it didn't really change how I performed the character. I still think it's still the same kind of fun energy that I've put into the two characters that I always have. More than anything, it changes fans of the show, and how they perceive our Rick, I think. It's an interesting thing. More that than anything else, just the way people perceive our Rick. There's a little more of just sadness underlying all of the darkness that he's got in him, and the tortured nature that he has. But he's still an asshole, and he's still... well, you'll see. The rest of the season is great. It's fun to see where it goes.
Speaking of the rest of the season, we got a teaser drop today that foreshadows some future episodes, and it looks like Rick is going to therapy. Is there anything that you can confirm or deny about that storyline for him?
ROILAND: I don't want to say too much. It's a different side of Rick, but he's doing it in a way where he feels in control of it. You know what I mean? Despite the fact that he's still doing it. But it is a sliver to a larger story that is an interesting character study of him, just exploring his relationship with why something keeps happening to him. What is he doing, what is his role and why this is continuing to happen? But there's a lot more going on in that episode. It is cool to have Susan Sarandon come back and reprise her role again as the therapist, the family therapist. It's awesome.
Spencer, one of the things I love about Summer is that she has so much of that teenage angst, and to your point, she hasn't fully developed emotionally in a lot of ways. One of the things that she hasn't really gotten much of a chance to do is a more emotional dramatic storyline. Are there any storylines that you personally would be interested in for her in future seasons? Maybe a love interest that sticks around?
GRAMMER: Sure. I've thought about... I've said she hasn't had a boyfriend since that, the episode with the one that's the Jurassic, the whatever—
ROILAND: The Anatomy Park.
GRAMMER: Anatomy Park. That episode has so many things in it. It's Anatomy Park, and then there's, Beth's parents, Jerry's parents—there's so much that happens in that episode. I would love to, of course, do more dramatic things with Summer. I think maybe she gets really woke or something and goes on a tirade about... mostly just through social media though, which would be very millennial of her. To not actually physically do anything, but donate the whole family's money or something, and be really serious about it, that might work. Summer could have a terminal illness, I guess at some point. Summer could have a boyfriend and a terminal illness.
ROILAND: We've had some crazy Summer episodes that I still think we should do. Sometimes when episodes just get... they're fighting back too hard, we'll set them down and move on. We've historically come back to a handful of those, and they suddenly make sense to us with some distance and time. But there are a few Summer episodes that fit that description that are really fun, and I think different than what we've seen.
Speaking of something the show has done, obviously, there are a lot of great sci-fi references, movie references. Summer doing a Die Hard without knowing she's doing a Die Hard. The Marvel jokes this season have really been on the nose, but I'm wondering if there's a reason for that. Is that because you've had previous writers now move on to the MCU? Is that a loving wink? Or is that just because Marvel's kind of on the brain?
ROILAND: It's just because it's so massive and there's just jokes to be made there, I think, is probably more the answer.
GRAMMER: There is a lot of crossover, though.
ROILAND: We're more than anything just proud of everybody. The success of anybody is always something to be celebrated. It's certainly not in sour grapes kind of thing. I think it's just more, "Oh, it's just, it's such a method thing. It's such an obvious reference to make."
It's ubiquitous, we'll never escape it.
ROILAND: Right.
Rick & Morty Season 6 returns November 20 on Adult Swim.