Posted in: Adult Swim, Cartoon Network, TV | Tagged: rick and morty

Rick and Morty Season 9 Preview: Wrestler Rick, TV Head Morty & More

Adult Swim's Rick and Morty shared a look at some of the Season 9 production art, including characters and various episode locales.

With the Emmy Award-winning animated series set to return on May 24th, Adult Swim's Rick and Morty has been doing its part to make sure we're ready for what's ahead (just so we can be shocked and surprised when most of our theories fall flat in the best ways possible). We've gotten a trailer, teasers & sneak peeks, a rundown of the episode titles, and even mini animatic previews for each one. Now, we're getting a look at production art for Season 9 – beginning with character designs for Wrestler Rick, Summer (sporting a medal and dressed like she's competing in the Olympics), TV Head Morty, Business Jerry, Crazy Randy, Reese, and Seb. From there, we have a dozen background/setting images – including a bowling alley, a glowing "Tree of Life"-like valley, an abandoned cabin in the woods with a station wagon outside, and more (with what seems like several looks at what appears to be a combination of Feudal Japan and a brewery town).

Here's the latest look at Season 9 that was released earlier today, followed by what else we've learned about the show's return:

On the same day that the Season 9 episode titles went live, Dan Harmon, Spencer Grammer, Sarah Chalke, Ian Cardoni, and Harry Belden chose to make things personal – well, "personal" in that they got together to offer their form of "performance art" as they rolled off the episode titles:

Speaking of episode titles, here is a set of screencaps that offers a rundown of the ninth season's chapters, followed by the announcement video that was released earlier this month:

Rick and Morty Season 9: Rick and Morty is back, baby! Season Nine is all certified bangers. No AI slop! Just Grade A organic slop, made by real humans with real human traits like back hair and cysts. Please watch, or we'll have neglected our families for nothing. Now, here's an updated look at the sneak peeks/preview clips released (with the latest clips at the end):

And here's a look at the image gallery that was released alongside the news that the Emmy Award-winning animated series would be returning in May, followed by a previous Season 9 sneak peek and some insights on the ninth season (and beyond) from the show's team:

In this previously released sneak peek clip from the ninth season, Principal Vagina calls in Beth and Jerry to meet with him about what Morty and Summer have been up to. First observation? Morty and Summer have zero respect for Vagina. After Vagina offers a laundry list of things that the sublings have done, he announces that they are being expelled. When Beth tries to get some answers, Summer mutes her, Jerry, and Vagina's "Boomer Frequency." Soon, Rick appears in farming gear and uses a hoe to turn Vagina into a carrot. Horrified by the experience, Vagina unexpels them and promises them all "A's" – and that's when Beth rips into Rick for making Morty and Summer into "spoiled assholes." After Morty pulls a move on him, Rick is convinced that Morty and Summer need to be sent away to a sleepaway camp that takes care of spoiled kids.

Rick and Morty Showrunner, EP Offer Seasons 9, 10 & 11 Updates

Back in September 2025, Showrunner/EP Scott Marder and EP Steve Levy took part in a Reddit AMA, offering the latest updates on how things were looking with Season 9 and beyond, while also dropping some clues to what's to come. In terms of the animated series' future, Levy shared that they "have season 9 in post, 10 in production, and 11 writing, so we are a lot further along than you think." Marder believes Season 8 will be hitting Adult Swim in Fall 2026. When asked if they believe the series will get a 13th season, Levy shared, "I believe we will," while Marder responded, "The lease on my Mazda Miata certainly hopes so!"

When asked to apply the Harmontown "Olives" rating (5 olives being bad, one olive being good), Levy responded, "Season 9 is 1 Olive and 10 is 0 Olives. Actually, that's tough. I could go either way with those seasons. They are both some of our best work." For those who think the Emmy Award-winning series has lost its edge, Marder teased that Season 9 should take care of that: "I would say Season 9 will convince everyone we've got a full tank of gas left in us." Later in the AMA, Marder would add, "The episode ideas are still REALLY flowing, and Rick still has plenty of mean left in him."

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