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By Andrew Whalen
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In a new Emmy Magazine profile (the series was nominated this year for Season 3 episode "Pickle Rick"), Rick and Morty co-creator Dan Harmon described how the writing process for Season 4 will differ from what came before.
"It's a show that can literally go anywhere and do anything," Harmon said, reacting to Adult Swim's recent order of 70 new episodes. "It has a boundless margin for nihilism. In other words: you can't go too far. Not only narratively, but also tonally, there is nothing off the table for the show."
While it's still too early to know what's in store for Rick and Morty in future seasons of the show, the Emmy profile described how Harmon hopes to adopt a "more anarchic" writing style. Harmon is notoriously focused on structure —his "Story Circle" has become a signature—but he intends to let individual moments steer the process moving forward, leaning more on the peculiar genius of his partner, co-creator Justin Roiland.
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One thing that hasn't changed: long hours.
"The last thing I want is to be the guy who makes Rick and Morty sterile," Harmon told Emmy. "We need to keep it fresh and continue to innovate. It helps to collaborate with someone like Justin. He has his disorders and I have mine, but it's hard to find a creative partnership where each thinks the other is a genius, and each is terrified of alienating the other or letting the other down. It's really, really hard to find partnerships like that. It's a once-in-a-lifetime thing."
According to the magazine, "anything that makes them laugh will be worthy of attention," deconstructing the process to allow for more spontaneity and inspiration. "It started with these two voices that Justin really likes doing," Harmon said of the show's origins. "That's the hard part to generate: people's bliss, people's joy."
Which is not to say Harmon is ditching structure entirely, if this first picture of a Rick and Morty Season 4 script, complete with Story Circle, is any indication:
A post shared by Dan Harmon (@danharmon) on Jul 26, 2018 at 4:28pm PDT
Roiland seemed to agree with the approach and even staked out a surprising future prediction for their collaboration after Rick and Morty ends. "Dan is absolutely brilliant, and he and I will continue working together long after Rick and Morty runs its course," Roiland said.
But don't expect that to be for a long time, both have previously said they see Rick and Morty as an essentially inexhaustible show, echoing Rick himself, who ranted about "nine more seasons" and "97 more years" to Morty in the Season 3 premiere.
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