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Whether it’s Spider-Man and Doctor Strange messing around in multiple realities of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or Everything Everywhere all at Once pinballing Michelle Yeoh from dimension to dimension, multiverses are currently the hottest concept in sci-fi. For Rick and Morty, however, diving through portals and encountering alternative versions of themselves is old news. Nonetheless, the show’s co-creator Dan Harmon seems relieved that the rest of the genre is jumping on the reality-hopping bandwagon.
"I’m glad that the multiverse concept has become kind of household, because you used to have to sit and explain Sliding Doors to somebody,” tells us in an interview. "It’s such a great thing to be able to have that shorthand, because I’ve always kind of thought that way about the world around us. It’s one the most anxiety-producing things where you can almost imagine these Donnie Darko arrows, and there are infinite numbers of them branching out from every decision you make. It’s so much better to be able to just say ‘multiverse’ and everybody’s on the same page."
Although the destruction of Rick’s trusty portal gun in the season 5 finale threatens to make heading across the multiverse more challenging, we’ll still be encountering multiple versions of the show’s heroes in season 6. Harmon points out, though, that discovering some weird offshoot of the Sanchez primordial soup is rarely the motivation for a Rick and Morty story.
"Now that the Citadel [of Ricks] has been destroyed, it certainly doesn’t mean we’ve seen the last of the many, many versions of Rick," he confirms. "I think the big challenge is in the writers’ room, because new writers come in and they’re in that multiversal mode, and the first 20 pitches are, 'What if there’s a version of Rick...?' I don’t want to discourage [them] but I just want to hear, 'What if Rick and Morty are flying in their flying saucer and X happens?' You know, they come upon a distress beacon or something like that. I want to make sure that we’re doing a hefty amount of those."
But as Marvel continues to ramp up the complexity of its storytelling from single linear timeline to multiple parallel universes – expect Kang the Conqueror to have something to say about that – it’s clear that they’ll need a little more than Doc Brown’s explanatory blackboard in Back to the Future: Part II to keep track.
"It’s just super-challenging," executive producer Scott Marder admits. "Whenever we dip in our toe in [multiverses], it can easily spin out to becoming mind-splitting. You’re just staring at a story that’s got a million Ricks in it, and you’ve got to keep track of all of them so you’re not being sloppy. It’s a can of worms."
"To me," Harmon chips in, "the thing that sucks the most about it is the having to remind yourself [what’s happened] when we do canonical stuff. It’s like, ‘Well, technically, aren’t there infinite evil Morties then?’ If we labor intensively over these cool stories, we have to remind ourselves, ‘Yeah, but you can always just hop over [to another universe] and a version of that cool story took place. I mean, are there infinite Mr. Nimbuses? Does Mr. Nimbus [the underwater ruler from season 5 episode ‘Mort Dinner Rick Andre’] know that the relationship he has with Rick is technically with a different Rick if it goes back that far?”
So do these multiverse veterans have any tips for any aspiring writers venturing into parallel dimensions?
"My tip to multiverse writers is abandon ship, baby," laughs Harmon. "Move on to Bitcoin!"
Rick and Morty returns on September 4 on Adult Swim in the US. You can catch the new season simultaneously in the UK, where it debuts on E4 on September 5. For more, check out the most exciting new TV shows heading your way soon.
