Rick and Morty Writer Talks Inspiration Behind Spaghetti Episode

Rick and Morty Season 7 debuted one of the wildest episodes of the series yet as it revealed the unfortunate secret behind Rick’s “famous spaghetti,” and the writer behind it all opened up about what inspired the wild concept in the first place! Rick and Morty Season 7 was first revealed with an image of Rick holding up a dish full of spaghetti, and ever since, this spaghetti had been a central part of the promotional materials before its premiere. Now that the series has released its big spaghetti episode, it makes sense as to why Adult Swim wanted fans to be ready for just how wild it was. 

Rick and Morty Season 7 revealed that the source of Rick’s famous spaghetti was actually sourced from another planet where those who took their own lives ended up with a spaghetti like inside that was delicious to the people of Earth. Speaking to Variety about everything that went into the episode, writer Heather Anne Campbell explained the inspirations behind making an episode all about spaghetti that started out with a pitch that was made in frustration about over what kinds of stories the show could tackle. 

Rick and Morty: Why Spaghetti?

“Spaghetti is the family meal,” Campbell began. “When you’re growing up and your mom makes something, it’s going to be spaghetti. So the idea that Rick has been obfuscating the truth of where his spaghetti is coming from in an artificial attempt to create this familial experience felt pretty on the nose.” And when thinking about the source of spaghetti, Campbell talked about how our the general populace plays into the naivete of where most of our processed food comes from. 

“There’s so many different ways in which we are barricaded from the truth of everything that we enjoy, and I think that the puzzle of being alive is how to reconcile that,” Campbell continued. “When a wolf eats a rabbit the wolf’s not, like, worried about it. It is a very specific experience to being human, to being conscious of something in a way that nothing else in the animal kingdom seems to have to digest.” Speaking about the final scene, Campbell noted. “What was most important to me about that sequence is that when we see those montages of people’s lives in movies, they always follow a very standard arc. 

“Interested in a thing, gets a job at the thing, makes the thing. And life is not not at all like that. It is a huge number of detours and disappointments that make your life; it’s not a direct path. It’s like a river with a bunch of branches…That’s such a nice, permissive playground for writers to work with,” Campbell continued. “I think I literally pitched it in frustration initially. We were stuck and I was like, ‘Guys, this show can be anything! Rick gets spaghetti! It’s from dead bodies! Let’s go!’”

What did you think of Rick and Morty’s spaghetti episode? Let us know all of your thoughts about it in the comments! You can even reach out to me directly about all things animation and other cool stuff @Valdezology on Twitter!