Rick and Morty Team Talks Rick and Summer’s Bonding in Season 5

The team behind Rick and Morty talked Rick and Summer bonding more in Season 5 of the series! The fifth season of the Adult Swim animated series is now halfway through its run, and while each episode of the series has been dramatically different from one another and impossible to predict what comes next, there have been some common themes and throughlines you can connect between the episodes so far. One of the major themes has been Rick and Morty drifting further apart, and Rick and Summer finding more time to bond in Morty’s stead.

We’ve seen Rick hanging around the rest of the Smith Family as well for one reason or another too, and during the special panel for Rick and Morty as part of Comic-Con @ Home 2021, the team behind the series opened up about Rick and Summer growing closer together in the new season. As the showrunner behind the series, Scott Marder, reveals, the friction between Rick and Morty in the fifth season left an opening for Summer.

“Season 5 definitely explores some friction between Rick and Morty which leaves some openings for Summer to jump in,” Marder began. “[S]he’s super capable when called up. It’s not fair frankly how little he looks to her because when he does, she’s normally more with it than Morty.” Co-creator Dan Harmon added to this as well with an explanation of why Summer was pushed to the background for so long, “It’s kind of an older sister thing I think where you become a babysitter if you have a little brother, so then that’s sort of where Summer is.”

“Rick, he entrusts her with a lot of stuff that he wouldn’t trust Morty with, and yet he doesn’t, plain and simple, go on adventures with her,” Harmon continued. “It’s kind of a backhanded compliment. I’m enjoying that part of their relationship.” The actress behind Summer, Spencer Grammer, noted that it’s also likely because Rick can’t exploit Summer in the same ways he does Morty, and Marder agreed with this sentiment.

“I think that’s why she’s not around as much because Morty’s the whipping boy, that’s his primary function,” Marder concluded. But it’s not just Summer Rick is hanging out with more either, it’s with the rest of the family. One of the connecting threads has been how Rick is slowly opening up to his family in the newest season, and we’ll likely see that flipped in a whole new way before it all comes to an end if previous seasons are any real indication.

But how are you liking Rick’s adventures with the rest of the family rather than just with Morty this season? What are you hoping to see before it all comes to an end? 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!