They say that good things come to those who wait. And, generally speaking, ‘they’ are right. Movies and TV series take a long time to write, produce and release. When their creators take their time — really work through what they want to say with every episode and every franchise installment — tend to put forward a better product, even if it takes a little bit longer to get juuuust right.
Although most fans seem to associate production delays and reshoots as a sign of serious trouble behind the scenes — such as Justice League and The Dark Tower‘s shoddy narratives when they were finally released to the public — the opposite, more often than not, tends to be true. And while unfortunate, delays, even major ones, tend to work out best for the show that needs them.
No fans in recent years has had to learn this more than Rick and Morty‘s avid follows. After its fanbase exploded in its exceptional second season, the series went on a nearly two-year hiatus. They surprise-revealed the first episode of season 3 on April Fools day 2017, then forced those same people to wait until the end of July — almost four months later — before the rest of the season came out.
When the third season finally ended in October, there was rampant speculation about whether or not fans would have to suffer an equally-long hiatus, with a tongue-and-cheek after-credits scene thrown in at the end of The Rickchurian Mortydate about having to wait “a really long time” for the next episode. And now it seems like those concerns were right along along.
In a recent interview, Ryan Ridley — one of the writers for Rick and Morty — revealed that fans will have to content themselves with reruns for a long time yet. He revealed that:
“I’m just shocked that it’s taking — we got done writing season 3 in November of last year and here we are 11 months later. And then I know how long the show takes to write, let alone animate, so it’s just like, I’d be surprised if there was a fourth season on the air any sooner than 2019 — in late 2019.”
You heard that right, Folks. It may take as long as another two years before season 4 is ready to air. And while I would obviously rather bide my time for a great show than have them rush out a slipshod one, even I have to admit that that’s testing my patience in the series.
It turns out that I’m not the only one. In the same interview, Ridley shared that:
“They really take their time. I never understood why everybody — all parties, Dan [Harmon], Justin [Roiland], and Adult Swim — didn’t get their shit together, and make the show fast; I just don’t get it. It doesn’t make any sense to me. I’m sure they all have their reasons.”
It looks like Ricky and Morty fans don’t have any choice but to wait, though. The series has undoubtedly been the best show on TV… at least, whenever its new episodes aired. Part of the reason why that is is because its creators have been able to slowly work through every minute detail of the series without the looming pressures of deadlines and studio interference.
They’ve been able to make exactly the kind of show that they want to make, and it shows. It’s just that the flip side of this methodical process is that we have to wait for it to run its course and give birth to new episodes. But if that’s what I have to do to get another Ricklantis Mixup or Rest and Ricklaxation, then so be it. This show is good enough to wait for.
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