SDCC 2024: Adult Swim Exec Teases Possibility of More Anime Spinoffs Following Rick and Morty

Rick and Morty: The Anime will be making its way to Adult Swim later this Summer, and one of the minds behind the series teases that more Adult Swim anime spinoffs could be on the way. Rick and Morty has been toying with an anime version of the franchise for the last few years through shorts, and later this Summer fans will get to see a full spinoff series that has spawned as a result of these experiments. With Rick and Morty: The Anime opening the doors, it also potentially means that this path is possible for other Adult Swim originals. 

Speaking with ComicBook during the San Diego Comic-Con 2024 weekend, Rick and Morty: The Anime producer and Adult Swim senior vice president Jason DeMarco (who also serves as the senior vice president in the anime and action series/longform department at Warner Bros. Animation and Cartoon Network Studios) revealed that it’s “definitely a possibility” that we can see other anime spinoffs for Adult Swim shows if Rick and Morty: The Anime does well because Adult Swim’s always looking for new interpretations of their characters. 

More Adult Swim Anime Spinoffs? 

“I mean, we have some ideas but there’s nothing currently…very far along,” DeMarco stated. “But I think if this does well, it’s definitely a possibility and there are definitely ways we are trying to look at our characters and see if there are interesting interpretations, whether it be anime or other types of interpretations. Because I think what we’ve learned over the years is that great characters have a life of their own and, and they will always over the years get reinterpreted and reimagined by a new generation. “

As for how these other Adult Swim anime spinoffs can happen, DeMarco noted how Adult Swim wants it to happen organically where they find someone with a new take like how it worked for Rick and Morty: The Anime, “And to the degree that that is possible, we want that to happen organically and in a way like Rick and Morty: The Anime where we find someone who has a different take, but that we find exciting who can interpret the same material, but in a new way that feels like its own thing that deserves to stand on its own. So if we can figure that out with other Adult Swim characters or properties we will. And if we can’t…if it doesn’t feel like it’s going to be really good and original and fit what we consider an Adult Swim show, then we won’t.”

Rick and Morty: The Anime premieres with Adult Swim on with its English dub on August 15th at midnight before returning on August 17th with its English subtitled release.