Throughout much of its first three seasons, Adult Swim’s “Rick and Morty” was a cultural icon, a smash hit with critics and audiences that pulled in big numbers and delivered memorable episodes.
From “Pickle Rick” and “Rixty Minutes” to “Total Rickall” and “Meeseeks and Destroy,” quotes and subplots from the episodes quickly entered the cultural lexicon. Anticipation was sky high that the fourth season would do the same.
It didn’t. The fourth and as much (or even more so) the fifth was met with a muted response. The show remains widely liked, but there’s a definite sense of a drop in quality with complaints of episodes being ‘all over the place’ and rushed.
One person who was mixed on the fifth season was co-creator Justin Roiland. Speaking with IGN recently, Roiland says he has mixed feelings about last year’s season with a big part of it due to the abrupt loss of a co-worker:
“Season 5 was a weird one. we lost [line producer J. Michael] Mendel… It was tough. We were thrown for a loop. That was…yeah. If I talk anymore, I’ll start crying”
Roiland adds he prefers the show’s first two seasons due to the “silliness and fun that was happening in the creative process” whereas later seasons have been a little more formalized.
Its been confirmed the show’s sixth season will be arriving in September, and Roiland seems more optimistic about what they’ve created and promises an improvement in quality:
“I will say that it’s a bit more canonical. It really rewards fans of the show that have been watching up to this point…So it’s like, I think we’re kind of finally back into the rhythm of Rick and Morty, and I think Season 6 is… I didn’t particularly think Season 5 was bad, but Season 6 is f—ing amazing. It really is af—ing quality season.”
Roiland remains busy working on Hulu’s “Solar Opposites,” continuing to run his own game studio, and readying “Rick and Morty” for its return on September 4th on Adult Swim.