Rick and Morty has recently announced its plans for releasing season 8, and it’s going to break a long-running streak for the series – but there’s a suitable substitute waiting in the wings in the meantime. Season 8 will see the return of Rick and Morty’s replacement voice actors, Ian Cardoni and Harry Belden, who took over the title roles from disgraced co-creator Justin Roiland in season 7. There’s going to be a long wait before Rick and Morty returns to the airwaves of Adult Swim, but there’s a good replacement coming along for fans to enjoy in the interim.
It was recently confirmed that Rick and Morty season 8 will release in 2025, meaning it’ll be more than a year until fans of this animated sci-fi comedy can see new episodes. This will break a long-running streak within the franchise. In the early years of the show, it was normal to wait over a year to see new episodes. But the show has consistently provided new episodes every year for a while now, and season 8’s delay is going to break that streak (but there’s another show coming out during the wait).
2024 Will Be The First Year Without New Rick & Morty Episodes Since 2018
Rick and Morty fans have gotten used to an annual release schedule
With Rick and Morty season 8 not being released until 2025, 2024 will be the first year with no new Rick and Morty episodes since 2018. Season 4 was released in two halves across 2019 and 2020, then the Rick and Morty producers managed to stay on a regular TV schedule for the next three years: season 5 aired in 2021, season 6 aired in 2022, and season 7 aired in 2023. But now, season 8 isn’t going to hit the airwaves until 2025, so 2024 will be Rick and Morty-free for the first time in six years.
It might seem like a long wait for season 8, but it won’t be the longest wait Rick and Morty fans have had between seasons. There was a year and a half between the final episode of season 2 on October 4, 2015, and the first episode of season 3 on April 1, 2017. There were more than two full years between the final episode of season 3 on October 1, 2017, and the first episode of season 4 on November 10, 2019. A one-year wait for season 8 is nothing in comparison.
Why Rick & Morty Season 8 Won’t Release Until 2025
Rick and Morty is one of many Hollywood shows delayed by the WGA strike
The producers of Rick and Morty have had to delay season 8 to 2025 due to the WGA strike last year. The strike action delayed the writing of new episodes, which delayed the production of those new episodes. The Hollywood studios procrastinated the resolution of the strike for so long that Rick and Morty season 8 will no longer be finished in time to air in 2024, so new episodes are delayed until 2025. Waiting an extra year to get new episodes of Rick and Morty is a small price to pay for the hard-working writers to get fairer wages.
Rick and Morty isn’t the only show to be delayed by the strike. The release dates of movies like Dune: Part Two, Captain America: Brave New World, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire were postponed to accommodate the strike. New seasons of other hit shows like Andor, The Boys, Abbott Elementary, The Last of Us, and Stranger Things also had to be delayed due to the strike. Rick and Morty season 8’s strike-related delay is nothing new; the effects of the strike will continue to impact Hollywood’s biggest releases for the next couple of years.
Rick & Morty’s Anime Will Be The Perfect Replacement To Watch In 2024
There’s an anime version of Rick and Morty coming in 2024
It’s not all doom and gloom. It might be more than a year before Rick and Morty fans will get to see new episodes of the mainline series, but there will be a chance to go on new adventures with these characters in 2024. An anime version of Rick and Morty, simply titled Rick and Morty: The Anime, is set to premiere its first season sometime in 2024.
Created by Takashi Sano, the anime version of Rick and Morty originated as a series of five shorts released between March 29, 2020, and October 10, 2021. Yōhei Tadano will voice Rick and Keisuke Chiba will voice Morty. Fans might have to wait a long time to see more of Rick and Morty’s flagship series, but the anime show will make a perfect replacement in the meantime.
