It looks like fans of the zany, audacious and hilarious animated series Rick and Morty will be waiting at least another year, but probably longer, for new episodes of the show.
Last year, the third season was released to critical acclaim after its first episode debuted in April (as part of Adult Swim's annual April Fools' prank) and the remaining episodes were released between July and October.
The series is created by Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland, and its latest update comes from Ryan Ridley, a writer, producer and voice actor on Rick and Morty. Ridley told the Detroit Cast that work hasn’t even started on season four.
“As far as I know, no one’s working on the show, and I’m certainly not,” he said. “So I don’t know what’s going on, I haven’t heard anything. They really take their time. I never understood why everybody — all parties, Dan, Justin 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.”
Rest assured this does not mean the show isn’t continuing, as Ridley explains: “I highly doubt there won’t be [a Season 4]. I’m just shocked that it’s taking [so long]. We got done writing Season 3 in November of last year, and here we are eleven months later. And then I know how long the show takes to write, let alone animate, so I would be surprised if there was a fourth season on the air any sooner than 2019, than late 2019.”
If this is the case, it will mark the longest inactive period for the show, surpassing the 18 months people waited for the third season. An Adult Swim representative told Polygon there was no comment at this time, but confirmed a fourth season had yet to be ordered.