Rick and Morty Showrunner Explains Why Season 6 Took Away Rick's Portals (Exclusive)

Rick and Morty kicked off Season 6's run with the surprising reveal that Rick Sanchez would no longer have any access to a working portal gun, and the showrunner behind the newest season opened up about why the team decided to take them away for the first half of the season! Following Evil Morty using all of the portal fluid in the Citadel to tear through the Central Finite Curve, it was revealed in Season 6 that Rick's portal gun was broken as a result. But it notably wasn't until the season took a break before its final episodes that Rick got back his use of portals.

It was an interesting decision to limit Rick's travels through the multiverse for the first half of the season, and when ComicBook.com got the chance to speak with Rick and Morty executive producer and showrunner Scott Marder about the choice to do leading into the final episodes of Season 6 coming back this Sunday, we just had to ask about the decision to take the portals away. As Marder explained, it was an intentional choice to make sure there were ramifications following Evil Morty's scheme back in Season 5. 

Why Did Rick and Morty Take Away Portals in Season 6? 

"I mean it was all obviously intentional," Marder began explaining why Rick and Morty Season 6 removed its portals, "We wanted to feel like there were major ramifications from what Evil Morty did in [Season 5's finale] and we didn't want them to magically easily be fixed, but we felt like a cool kind of side effect of it was that it forced Rick to be with the family a little bit more, that it forced them all to have to play off each other a little bit more." As it turns out, this choice opened up the kind of stories the team could tell in Season 6.

READ MORE: Rick and Morty Showrunner Addresses Adding More Canon in Season 6 | Rick and Morty Finally Fixes Rick's Portal Gun 

"We thought it was kind of nice that they chose each other in [Season 6's premiere], and they were all kind of dealing with each other a little bit more, and didn't have that get out of jail free card that they could keep pulling that they normally can," Marder continued. "So that was all fun for us. I mean the space components are such an infinite sort of thing that this show has to offer too, that it didn't feel like it completely put us in a tiny box."

Rick's portals returned to the series in Season 6's sixth episode, so we'll soon see how they shake things up when Rick and Morty Season 6 returns to Adult Swim with new episodes beginning on Sunday, November 20 at 11:00PM EST. How did you feel about the lack of portals in the first half of the season? 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!