What Happened to Phoenixperson on 'Rick and Morty'?

There are a lot of story threads left hanging following the third season finale of Rick and Morty, [...]

There are a lot of story threads left hanging following the third season finale of Rick and Morty, but one that stands out among the others is the mystery of what happened to Phoenixperson.

Phoenixperson may be better known as Birdperson from the majority of his appearances on Rick and Morty. Birdperson was an old friend of Rick's, and the two were comrades in arms fighting against the Galactic Federation.

Birdperson's first appearance was at Rick's party in the episode "Ricksy Business." Birdperson had recently ended his soul-bond with his spirit-partner and was looking to start a relationship with someone new.

Birdperson found that someone in Tammy Gueterman, a student at Harry Herpson High School and a friend of Summer. In the episode "Get Schwifty," Birdperson and Tammy's relationships is shown to have continued after the party, in a scene where Birdperson offers some guidance to Morty regarding Rick.

Birdperson and Tammy's wedding takes place in Rick and Morty's second season finale, "The Wedding Squanchers." It was then that Tammy revealed she was actually an undercover member of the Galactic Federation's secret service and had staged the wedding to kill or capture Birdperson, Rick, and the rest of their criminal allies. That was when Tammy shot and killed Birdperson.

For months, fans were left to believe that was the end of Birdperson. That changed in the post-credits tag scene on the Season Three premiere, "The Rickshank Redemption." In that scene, Tammy joins some of her Federation comrades, who have been working on Birdperson, grafting cybernetic parts to what was left of his bird person body. She gives them the order to reactive him, and Birdperson is resurrected as "Phoenixperson." Tammy then jump on Phoenixperson's back and they fly away on his cybernetic wings.

Given that setup, fans were eagerly anticipating an appearance by Phoenixperson in the Rick and Morty Season Three finale, but that didn't happen. In fairness, it isn't unusual for Rick and Morty to dangle a plot thread like that only to pick it up much later. Evil Morty is the perfect example, since he was seen in the show's first season and only returned in Season Three's "The Ricklantis Mixup."

Rick and Morty will return for Season Four eventually, we hope, and maybe then we'll see Phoenixperson once again.

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