Rick And Morty Probably, Hopefully, Maybe Won't Be Taking A Two-Year Break Again

We know we have a whole lot of "Rick and Morty" in our future, since show creators Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland signed a 70-episode deal with Adult Swim. What's less clear, however, is when we'll see the remaining episodes after the season 5 finale airs this September.

In a recent interview, Spencer Grammer — who voices Morty's big sister, Summer — gave us a hint as to when we may likely expect to see the next season.

In an interview with Inverse, Grammer shared what she knew about the writing process for seasons 6 and 7:

"I keep saying, there's gonna be so many more episodes. They're writing season 6 already and are probably going to start writing season 7 soon. It's nice to be on a real schedule that people can see every year, hopefully, but who knows, it could be two years! I don't want to give anybody high hopes, but I don't know that it'll be three years again."

Grammer's words are soothing for "Rick and Morty" fans, who had roughly a year-and-half between the premiere of the fourth and fifth seasons. That epic 70-episode deal Harmon and Roiland signed with Adult Swim after season 3 didn't include a timeframe for when we'd see those 70 episodes or how many seasons they would cover. Since that deal, seasons 4 and 5 have both had 10 episodes each, which suggests (but doesn't confirm!) that we'll get five more seasons out of remaining 50 episodes promised in the deal. 

The main reason Harmon and Roiland struck such a long-term deal was to allow them to plan ahead and release "Rick and Morty" on a regular schedule. With Grammer's confirmation that the writing team is already writing the next season, that likely means "Rick and Morty" will be back in our lives sooner rather than later after the one-hour season 5 finale on September 5, 2021.

Assuming about a year-and-a-half between each season, it looks like we have another 7.5 years of "Rick and Morty," and that assumes it won't get another episode order. Will "Rick and Morty" ever beat out "The Simpsons" for being the longest running television series ever? We'll have to wait decades to find out, but given the Adult Swim show's popularity, I'd say it has a decent chance. 

That's also a lot of guaranteed work for the voice cast, which include Roiland as Rick Sanchez and Morty Smith, Chris Parnell as Jerry Smith, Spencer Grammer as Summer Smith, and Sarah Chalke as Beth Smith.

"Rick and Morty" episodes premiere exclusively on Adult Swim but will eventually make their way to Hulu and HBO Max.