Rick and Morty Co-Creator Reveals Why They Chose Mr. Nimbus Episode for Emmy Consideration

Rick and Morty is gearing up for its highly anticipated return to Adult Swim with Season 6, and one of the creators behind the series opened up about how the team ultimately decided to submit Season 5’s premiere for Emmy consideration! Rick and Morty has been notably in the Emmy sphere since winning with Season 3’s infamous “Pickle Rick,” and thus it was no surprise to see this followed up in the fourth season with another win for “The Vat of Acid Episode.” So now all eyes are on the fifth season of the series as the team decided to move forward with “Mort Dinner Rick Andre.“

Speaking with Variety about choosing an episode from Season 5 to submit for Emmy consideration, Rick and Morty co-creator Dan Harmon explained that when looking at the premiere episode, “Mort Dinner Rick Andre,” the team felt like it was the best representation of all of their work as the various elements came together in a way in which they all were able to shine. Instead of trying to choose an episode that made a bigger impact on the series’ lore, they wanted to showcase the series at its best. 

“We just looked at it as a really nice overall success from every department on the show,” Harmon began. “There’s elements of it that were just great instincts on the part of the artists. The draft writer in question, Jeff Loveness, he really put his heart into that. The premise had kind of a Neil Gaiman-y tone to it. It was really from his heart and kind of a Valentine to sci-fi and fantasy. And then we felt it was funny and had all of the elements of Rick and Morty, as opposed to us being like, ‘Oh, it was such an important episode,’ or ‘It’s going to do so much for humankind,’ or that there was a softer, more emotional side of Rick and Morty. It really was about, this does represent the show at its best, in our opinion.”

When opening up about voicing Rick’s rival, Mr. Nimbus, in the episode itself, Harmon revealed that it was just a character he kept messing around with during the writing process. “I’m not a professional actor, but I kept doing my impression of this character in the writers’ room. So inevitably, people thought, why don’t you just do it?” Harmon stated. “The idea was — and it’s not good to start from a place of hatred in doing characters or stories — but growing up, I was always so confused about caring about underwater characters in pop culture, like Aquaman and Prince Namor.”

Continuing further, Harmon stated, “I always felt like it was almost like Christian rock, in that they were trying to sell 10-year-old kids something that was just inherently so uncool in the form of underwater-ness. I think that extrapolating from my impression of all underwater superheroes, then it became more like, so who is this guy? Well, this is that friend of yours who is so confident in themselves that they’re incredibly alienating and off-putting. We knew from square one that the important thing about Nimbus had to be that he could truly kick Rick’s ass at the end of the day. That it wasn’t about punching down. Rick actually does respect this guy and fears him.”

What did you think of Rick and Morty’s Season 5 premiere? Do you think it was the best episode to submit for the Emmys this year? Are you hoping to see more of Mr. Nimbus in Season 6? Let us know all of your thoughts about it in the comments! You can even reach out to me directly about all things animated and other cool stuff @Valdezology on Twitter!

via Variety