A Rick And Morty Movie Similar To The South Park Film Was Planned – Here's What Happened

Back in the late '90s, the raunchy animated comedy series "South Park" became all the rage. Not only was it making adults crack up, but it was invading schools and upsetting parents whose children were quoting the foul-mouthed fourth graders and wearing t-shirts adorned with the show's characters. Of course, that kind of popularity and chatter resulted in a big Hollywood movie for "South Park" rather quickly, just under two years after the show premiered on Comedy Central. But today, animated series geared towards adults are a dime a dozen, and they're often not in the market for theatrical adaptations on the scale of fellow animated shows like "The Simpsons" or "Bob's Burgers." 

However, if there's one series with the success and status in the pop culture zeitgeist to deserve a big screen adventure, it's "Rick and Morty." Conceived as a deranged and raunchy riff on the dynamic between Doc Brown and Marty McFly in "Back to the Future," the Adult Swim animated series follows the titular drunken grandfather and sci-fi inventor Rick Sanchez as he traverses the galaxy with his teenage grandson Morty, with their fellow family members occasionally getting involved in the cosmic shenanigans. Created by Dan Harmon and the now-disgraced Justin Roiland, the series often takes cues from a plethora of sci-fi and fantasy movies and TV shows, delivering both episodic and serial adventures packed with pop culture references and irreverent comedy. 

"Rick and Morty" hasn't caused as much fervor as "South Park" back in the day, but it's popular enough that its rabid fanbase ripped into McDonald's when they quickly ran out of limited edition Szechuan Sauce, a condiment that was revived at the fast food chain after being prominently featured in the show's third season premiere back in 2017. The series has only gotten more popular since then. So where's the "Rick and Morty" movie? Well, it turns out one was seriously discussed before the Hollywood strikes came about. 

In conjunction with the release of the new animated series "Krapopolis," which garnered some impressive ratings on Fox in its series premiere, The Hollywood Reporter published a profile of "Rick and Morty" co-creator Dan Harmon, who has also created shows like "Community" and the new animated series "Strange Planet." In this story, it's revealed that there was a "a serious conversation with executives at Warner Bros." about making a "Rick and Morty" movie come together. 

THR says Dan Harmon and the WB execs had "all aligned" on the "Rick and Morty" movie basically being a "super episode," not unlike what "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone did when they were tasked with making "South Park: Bigger, Loner & Uncut." But there weren't any other details about the potential movie revealed. 

Of course, as we all know, both the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) went on strike earlier this year, and Hollywood was basically shut down for 148 days. Naturally, there hasn't been any significant movement on the project since then. But now that the WGA strike has come to an end, and the SAG strike will likely/hopefully follow imminently, could we end up seeing the "Rick and Morty" movie happen?

As of now, it certainly seems like a "Rick and Morty" movie is still on the table. But Harmon is also a busy guy. Not only has "Krapopolis" already been renewed for two more seasons, but he's supposed to be making good on the promise of a "Community" movie at Peacock, which was also delayed to the strikes. "Strange Planet" recently wrapped up its first season, and it could end up with a second season order. Plus, the THR profile notes that Harmon also has a musical and a multicam TV series in his backpocket, and those could end up moving forward as well. So even though a "Rick and Morty" movie could still get off the ground, it may not be something that happens immediately. Then again, studios are likely desperate for surefire success after losing millions due to the Hollywood strike, so maybe a "Rick and Morty" movie will be even more enticing to them now.

In the meantime, "Rick and Morty" season 7 is slated to premiere on Adult Swim in October, and you can watch the trailer right here.