From creatorsJustin RoilandandDan Harmonand showrunner/executive producerScott Marder, the adult animated sci-fi seriesRick & Mortykicked 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 ofChris Parnellas Jerry Smith, Morty’s and Summer’s father and Rick’s son-in-law,Spencer Grammeras Summer Smith, Morty’s sister and Rick’s granddaughter, andSarah Chalkeas Beth Smith, Morty’s and Summer’s mother and Rick’s daughter.
Ahead of the show’s return, Collider had the opportunity to speak toRick & 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. In chatting with Marder, Parnell, and Chalke, the discussion turned to the unexpected theme of incest that’s been cropping up in several episodes lately, how Chalke differentiates her voice performance between playing Space Beth and other versions of Beth, whether Parnell voices any version of Jerry differently, if Rick Prime will return, and more.
Collider: What’s with all the incest this season? I’m sensing a theme here.
SCOTT MARDER: I’m a product of incest, so it’s really important to my story to get that out.
CHRIS PARNELL: We’re just trying to make it more acceptable in society.
MARDER: If we can really get it out there, it’ll become more the norm. I don’t know, I feel like we stumbled onto a thing with Beth where it felt like, “Oh, what a cool, unexpected thing to happen between her and her space counterpart.” Then, we really latched onto Rick feeling like, “I know this is beautiful that you do, but we all go through it.” Rick’s out in the universe bumping into Ricks, it happens all the time. Those were just a cool guiding light for what ended up being a really beautiful, romantic story. Obviously, Jerry trying not to screw his mom, I saw as pretty different. I know how they could be pooled into the same thing. One is a beautiful love story of just self-love, and the other is a guy doing anything he can to avoid having sex with his mother.
PARNELL: A tale of horror.
MARDER: Two different lanes.
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This show walked soHouse of the Dragoncould run. Speaking of Space Beth, Sarah, we’re getting more of her this season. She seems to have become a more important part of the family. How does it feel to give life to both of those versions, and how do you try to keep each character unique when you’re playing them?
SARAH CHALKE: It’s been one of my favorite things. I love it. It’s so fun to get to play both of them and to try and figure out a way to make them both feel like Beth, but also both feel unique. When we record them, to help that out, we record Domestic Beth and complete her, and then we record Space Beth and complete her.
To get to learn so much more about them and to have Episode 3 in Season 6, where the relationship really plays out, I thought it was so cool how the writers really just crafted that whole story, and it really does end up being a love story. There are all these conflicting emotions about how both Beths feel about it, especially Domestic Beth, and it’s confusing to her, and she’s so caught off guard. You actually have no idea where it’s going to go until they actually are sitting there making out. you’re able to feel this tension building between them. In terms of differentiating the two, we always record Space Beth second, because she has more of a raspy, gravelly voice, so there are a few things I can do right in between recording the two that make my voice a little more raspy.
MARDER: Sarah smoked a whole cigar between characters.
CHALKE: Yeah, thanks for giving away the secret. Scott’s directing me, and we’re finding ways to keep them unique and separate, but so much of it is in the writing, right? I mean, the Beths are written so specifically, so I think that is the biggest piece of it.
MARDER: She’s got a strong take on it. I feel like I’m James Lipton onInside the Actors Studio, like, “Is Space Beth with us?” And then, you see [Sarah] just sort of transform into her. I’m like, “Oh, she is. Okay.”
Chris, I have to ask you the same thing because we’re seeing several different Jerrys. We learned that the Jerry that was picked up from daycare is not the right Jerry. You’ve gotten a chance to explore the different Jerrys, so is there anything that you try to do to assert that difference?
PARNELL: I mean, typically, Jerry is Jerry, and it’s only when a different set of circumstances present themselves that Jerry goes to sort of a different place emotionally or psychologically, and all of that. So, even when it’s the Jerryboree, they all sound alike. I asked when we recorded that and other episodes in that ilk, “Do you want him to be different at all?” But they just want it to all sound like Jerry, so it’s really about whatever is happening on the page.
Scott, speaking of what’s on the page, we get the reveal this season that Rick’s biggest nemesis is out there in the multiverse. Is this Rick going to come back later in the season? Are you saving him for future storylines? What’s the plan to kind of divvy out this reveal?
MARDER: We definitely set the stage for future stuff. I think one of the coolest things about 6x01 was just feeling like we were able to answer some questions that we opened up in 5x10. But also, yeah, finding a villain that’s been there from day one that we were able to shine a light on was just so cool to us because he’s such a part of the DNA of the show when you look at it. He will come back. I can’t say when, but he’s coming back.
Is this the last that we’re going to hear about the multiverse beyond the Finite Curve? We got the resolution of this thread with the dinosaur solution, which was hilarious, but did something from beyond the Finite Curve manage to slip through?
MARDER: We might be noodling around with some stuff. We’ve been noodling around.
