Rick and Morty Showrunner Reveals Major Changes for Season 5

The fourth season of Rick and Morty dealt with a lot of fan-favorite mysteries while also setting up so much more, and fans should expect to see more when Season 5 premieres on Adult Swim. And while the global coronavirus pandemic might have hampered a lot of movie and TV productions in the works, Rick and Morty might be benefitting from the remote offices, the Zoom meetings, and the social distancing requirements. As showrunner Dan Harmon explained during the digital panel for PaleyFest 2020, Rick and Morty is still chugging along for the fifth season.

There's no doubt that Rick and Morty fans are accustomed to waiting for long periods between seasons. But Harmon makes it seem like the wait between Season 4 and Season 5 will not be as long as it was previously.

"It's all about the removal of humanity, the forced compartmentalization," Harmon explained. "That's good creatively for writers who are less socialized for loudness and interruption. There are some fellas that might not be heard when the whole fratty energy is at a full volume. I think in a lot of ways [it's] a huge improvement and in a lot of ways rolling a boulder up a hill. It comes out to a net balance."

Harmon did note that the current working conditions might not necessarily result in a qualitative improvement. However, he remains hopeful that the series will be able to be consistent.

"We were certainly not already doing it the way we're doing it now, definitely more than our friends in live-action we were able to make a transition. During this time Rick and Morty was already anticipating a shutdown and we were able to because it's digital," said Harmon. "I have survivor's guilt. I like working this way. I can do it in my underwear and I always wanted to do it in my underwear, but the storyboard artists and the sound engineers have to put a little more time and effort. That keeps me from being jubilant about the whole thing. Everything always trickles down to labor and it sucks you don't want to go 'this is great creatively.' We're more on schedule than we've ever been. You have to have a remote bee colony so the honey is made more consistently."

All previous seasons of Rick and Morty are currently available through Adult Swim. There's no word on when the fifth season of the series will premiere.