When Does Rick and Morty Come Back?

While we're all marching toward the inevitable heat death of the universe and our own fleeting existence slowly dwindles out on the timeline of mortality, it's easy to lose focus of the importance of life. But there are some things that keep us going, minor joys that dull the pain of life — such as the popular television show Rick and Morty, the animated hit that reminds us life is pain and meaningless while making us laugh along the way. The Adult Swim show is a reminder of the few positive aspects of existence. And while people are excited for the recently returned fourth season of the series, we don't get to partake in that joy this week because Rick and Morty will not be airing tonight.

The series is taking a break this week, just three weeks after the fourth season premiered in November. But don't worry, you won't have to ponder the futility of life for long, as Rick and Morty will be back on Adult Swim next Sunday, December 8th.

It's not clear why they decided to skip this week, though it could have had something to do with the Thanksgiving holiday. The fourth season of Rick and Morty will consist of 10 episodes, and unfortunately fans should get ready for a much longer break between new episodes in the near future.

Adult Swim announced that Season 4 would be split into two parts, with the first five airing before taking a break and returning in 2020. That means there are only two more episodes in the pipeline before an extended hiatus takes us into the new year. The network has not yet announced when Rick and Morty would return for the back half of Season 10.

This might come as a disappointment for some fans, especially after showrunners Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland explained that they made their new deal with Adult Swim, extending Rick and Morty for seven additional seasons, in order to obtain job security and shorten the length of time between seasons.

"I think it's safe to say without fear of being wrong that the gap between seasons 3 and 4 will be the longest and last time that it's ever so long that it's ridiculous," Harmon explained to EW. "I don't know how fast we can do it, but I know it will never be this long again. There were so many things that had to be settled before we even started season 4, and it's really safe to say — as Justin says — we're literally writing season 5 while finishing season 4 just to force ourselves to commit to a certain schedule."

Hopefully the gap between episodes in Season 4 is short, and Rick and Morty returns early in 2020.