'Rick And Morty: The Anime' Taps In For The Main Show’s Delayed 8th Season

It turns out the fight for new contracts did indeed affect production on season 8, but Japan isn’t in either guild!

Those who were hoping to get a double dose of Adult Swim’s mad scientist and grandson duo in 2024 are going to be disappointed. On the day that season 7 of hit series Rick and Morty arrives on Max, it has been confirmed that season 8 will not be ready by the end of the year, but will be ready for sometime in 2025. This means that its anime spin-off, Rick and Morty: The Anime will be premiering this year alone.

The anime’s season length matches that of the western show’s at 10, hopefully serving as a worthy substitute as the network bides time for it to get the work done. The five month fight by the Writers Guild of America to get a fair contract from the studios did end up affecting season 8’s production and caused delays. This means that for the first time since the 70 episodes Adult Swim ordered after season 3 started being delivered in 2019, the main Rick and Morty series will miss a calendar year. The 70 episodes that has ultimately made up seasons 4-10 weren’t ordered until March 2018, 5 months after season 3 completed airing. Season 4 would ultimately air in two parts: November and December 2019 with the first 5 episodes, and May 2020 with the back 5. Seasons 5 and 6 aired in summer 2021 and fall 2022 respectively, with also-respective single 4 and 6-week breaks positioned differently. Luckily, the wait for season 8 cannot match the wait for season 4, as season 7 ran straight this past fall, with another December end. A season 4-matching 25 month wait would land a 2026 premiere which is not happening and hopefully won’t.

Unlike the sneak peek aired on the main show’s season finale night, the upload of a newly-released “Early Look” does not have its own description. However, it sees Rick and Morty standing in a canyon, as Rick gets all philosophical about the one life they choose to live. He has a flask, and a tube of something blue. As they look out, Rick vomits.

Rick and Morty: The Anime stars Yōhei Tadano as Rick, Keisuke Chiba as Morty, Manabu Muraji as Jerry, Akiha Matsui as Summer, and Jun Irie as Beth. It is directed by Takashi Sano, director of the two shorts that this series was ultimately born from, “Rick and Morty vs. Genocider” and “Summer Meets God (Rick Meets Evil)”. It is produced by Jason DeMarco of Adult Swim, serving as Senior Vice President for Anime & Action Series/Longform for Warner Bros. Animation and Cartoon Network Studios, and Joseph Chou of Sola Entertainment, the company handling general production. Animation production is by Telecom Animation Film. The opening theme "Love Is Entropy", was written and arranged by Japanese group OTONEZ. It is sung by CODE OF ZERO member 0C and Cameron Earnshaw.

Rick and Morty season 8 is the latest Warner Bros. series to have its return delayed to 2025, after HBO series The Last of Us, The White Lotus, Euphoria and Max’s And Just Like That were announced to head that way in early December. Max’s It prequel series Welcome to Derry had its series premiere pushed to next year as well. Watch the newly-released The Anime clip below.

Sources: The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline