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

Rick and Morty Should Aim for 100 Years (Before AI Takes Over): Harmon

Until Adult Swim throws it off the air or AI replaces everyone, Dan Harmon thinks Rick and Morty should be aiming for 100 years.

Even though we're staring down the final two episodes of Adult Swim's Rick and Morty Season 9, we still have EPs Dan Harmon and James Siciliano's Keith David-starring President Curtis to look forward to at the end of the month. On top of that, we know that production is well underway on the 10th season – and there's even movement on an animated feature film. But while our dimension-hopping duo doesn't appear to be slowing down any time soon, just how long can the Emmy Award-winning series run? As far as Harmon's concerned, they should be thinking 100 years – or until Adult Swim throws them off the air.

"The design of 'Rick and Morty,' because it's animated, is to be eternal. There are shows like 'Seinfeld' that know when to quit. They took a bow. They finished. I don't think we get rewarded for that mentality in the 22-minute comedy animation medium. I think our job is to get dragged off kicking and screaming," Harmon shared recently. "If Michael [Cartoon Network/Adult Swim President Michael Ouweleen] fires us, he'll give us a heads-up so we'll be able to make it our last season. Until then, I think our job is 100 years of Rick and Morty. The show must go on until we all get replaced with AI."

Rick and Morty S09E09: "Salute Your Morts" Preview

Rick and Morty S09E09: "Salute Your Morts" – Morty and Summer go to camp, broh; Beth and Jerry home alone, broh.

Tune into Adult Swim on Sunday, July 19th at 11:00 PM to catch the next brand new episode of Rick and Morty Season 9, "Salute Your Morts"! pic.twitter.com/Y80QsVPcTR

— Swimpedia (@swimpedia) July 13, 2026

President Curtis EPs Talk Spinoff, Confirm Rick and Morty Appearance

With EPs President Curtis set to start hitting screens on July 26th, we're getting some interesting insights on Adult Swim's Rick and Morty spinoff from the show's creators. Also starring Stephanie Beatriz (Brooklyn Nine-Nine) and Jim Rash (Community), the series follows President Andre Curtis (David) and his eccentric staff as they tackle the kind of crises that Rick Sanchez could never be bothered with – from interdimensional diplomacy to paranormal investigations and unexplained phenomena. Checking in with Deadline Hollywood for an exclusive interview, Harmon and Siciliano discuss why President Curtis was a good choice for a spinoff, how the character differs from his previous appearance, and (officially confirmed) having Rick and Morty appear in the opener.

Harmon on Spotlighting President Andre Curtis: "It was because that was the character who could have their own self-contained world that wouldn't be redundantly overlapping. You can think of him as like a concentric circle: If we wanted Rick to do an X Files-level mission on Earth, like going to find the Hodag in Rhinelander, Wisconsin or the Loch Ness Monsters, he could do that, but his circle is broader. The comparison I make is it's like 'Doctor Who' and 'The X Files.' Both involve aliens, but you have a different perspective there. It allows the tonality to stay the same, but it's not redundant."

Siciliano & Harmon on How the Character Was "Adjusted" for the Spinoff Series:

Siciliano: "The one thing we 'retconned' and adjusted from the Rick and Morty character when we were building our guy out is that in Rick and Morty, he is very approval-driven and craves that. That was the first thing when talking about this show – it is almost the opposite. We wanted him to not be rolling his eyes at the job as part of his duty to protect people."

Harmon: "You go to TV for a little escapism, and the thing that drives us nuts about politics, whether we accept it or not, is that the numbers wag the dog. What do you have to say to win an election? We thought about it pretty hard, and what we needed to change about this guy is if you gave him a chance to have his numbers go up but in order to do it he had to lie or cheat, he wouldn't. He is only doing the job of president because if he doesn't, someone worse will.

"This is canonical stuff that will only be revealed if the show lives long in the tooth, but we know as writers that his ex-wife, who is not in the picture at the start, was the strategist. He is more like a golden retriever. When he walks into the room people say, 'I want to have a beer with him,' which is what gets you elected, but she was the more politically-motivated one. He is divorced from his Yoda. He is not a fraud like Remington Steele, where it was all sizzle, no steak, but it is not the job he would have chosen. He is a soldier and a vampire slayer, and he was a lonely guy who begrudgingly took on this role of serving hundreds of millions of people."

Siciliano & Harmon on Having Rick and Morty Appear in Series Opener: "It is one and done for this season. We wanted to address the elephant in the room of a spin-off, but we spent a lot of time building his own staff and world, and once you get into watching the goal is you feel it is its own show," Siciliano shared. Harmon added, "We didn't want to do too much out of the gate. We had no problem doing it – there was no impudence there, and it's not like we have to license the rights, so it was a matter of giving it space and letting it have its own identity, so that those paths crossing over will feel meaningful.

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