Nine seasons in, Rick and Morty is showing little sign of slowing down. As the Adult Swim launches its latest season, executive producer Scott Marder and co-creator Dan Harmon say the show’s creative engine remains surprisingly fresh, with future seasons already in development and even an animated feature project taking shape.

During a recent conversation with Nexus Point News, Dan Harmon and Scott Marder reflected on Rick’s ongoing search for happiness, why characters like Jerry and Summer continue to inspire new stories, and how Rick and Morty Season 9 reinforced their belief that the series can continue exploring the seemingly infinite possibilities of its universe. They also teased what fans can expect from the season, discussed the newly announced President Curtis spinoff, and offered an update on the long-rumored animated feature.

Demet Koc: Earlier in the season, there’s an episode where Rick briefly seems genuinely content, living a normal life before everything collapses the Rick way. Underneath all the intelligence and cynicism, he’s an incredibly tragic character. Will we ever see him truly happy, or is he doomed to live life this way?

Dan Harmon: I think it was more tragic earlier. We’re no spring chickens. It’s easier to access Rick while allowing him to change, to access that part of us. If you can transpose having an incredibly successful cultural phenomenon of a show that’s bigger than you, transposing that onto Rick’s storied career of adventure and turbulence and tragedy, then maybe that’s why it’s easy to kind of put Rick in this place where there’s an open-ended question: Does this guy know how to be happy? Which I don’t want to think of as too tragic, because that’s just ripped from the headlines of our therapy sessions. That’s the best you can hope for, I think, as a person of a certain age. That’s the champagne problem, is where you end up talking to your shrink and going like, I don’t know, am I able to have self-esteem now that I’m past some of these battles? Most people are still dealing with it. So that’s where it’s like, what are we gonna do with this guy? And I think a lot of the stuff comes from this idea that he’s dealing with reconciliation. Is he able to become happy? Which I hope is more hopeful, but I could see that being tragic.

That’s a good note. I’m gonna work on that.

Scott Marder: I can’t imagine him never being uncomplicated. I think that’s what makes him one of the most fun characters to write for.

Demet: We’re now 9 seasons into Rick and Morty. From a creative standpoint, what still excites you most about the world and these characters?

Scott Marder:  I would say one thing that was just such a nice surprise was that Season 9 broke so easily that, to me, it made it feel like the show could really truly live up to the infinity that it seems to want to be. It feels like this show could keep going because breaking 9 was no different than breaking 4. It didn’t feel like it had any fatigue or was carrying the load of 9 seasons on it, which is amazing.

That was the biggest kind of victory of 9 that was like, “Whoa, this show’s got some deep bench,” which is really cool, because we’re writing 12 now and it’s just very smooth. That’s the big global thing from my end. We’re very excited about what we’re doing over here. It does not feel like a show that’s this late in its run.

Demet: I think a character I really love watching is Jerry. Is there a particular character you always enjoy writing the most, either because their voice comes to you naturally or because they surprise you the more you get into the character?

Dan Harmon: I love Jerry, too. Sometimes it’s a struggle to write for him, but I have so much affection for him. I think there was a poll that revealed the supposedly surprising answer that everybody loves Jerry the most of all, or that there was some poll that they’re all rooting for him or something. That makes a real kind of sense.

It’s a challenge, though, because you don’t wanna underserve it. Jerry’s the guy that can express a great deal of shame in this way. That would be my favorite character to write for.

I think the most fun could be Summer. I especially feel like our women writers get to make more use of the right you have with Summer to go real, like, this is randomly lewd, not in a shock-jock way, but in a kind of visceral Euphoria way, where Summer is just the 17-year-old girl, so she’s just coming from this uncomfortably visceral place that even Rick is intimidated by. That’s not my wheelhouse, but I think she’s the most fun character to hear talk.

Demet: And you, Scott?

Scott Marder:  I’d probably enjoy Rick the most just because he’s the most surprising. I just love somebody that you could throw in a scene and you don’t 100% know how he’s gonna react in any given scene. I think it’s cool and exciting, because that’s just a total flip to Jerry. If you put Jerry in a scene, you know how he’s gonna react. He’s gonna do the most cowardly thing — the most self-servicing thing. He’d sell out his wife if it could get him out the back door. That’s what’s very funny about Jerry. It’s very easy to get attracted to a Jerry story because he’s just such a comical sort of doofus. I think people can really relate. So I think when we begin a season, Jerry ideas pop up on the board pretty quick because I think everyone relates to him in some small way.

Demet: It’s apparent that you really love what you do with this show, so I wanna ask, do you have a favorite episode from this season that you’re really excited for the fans to see?

Dan Harmon: For me, I like the one where they were there on the evolution planet. Do I think it’s the best one? I don’t. It’s the one I’m [most excited for] because it’s so unique and it was such a cool process, so I’m very interested to share it with people.

Scott Marder:  I’m very excited about the premiere. I’m also very excited about the finale. I think people are going to think the finale is one of the coolest episodes we’ve ever done.

Oh, I am excited to see that. We also have a spinoff coming with President Curtis. Will we have a connection established this season?

Dan Harmon: Do those worlds connect this season?

Scott Marder:  I don’t think they connect in 9. He hasn’t left our show. There is interconnectivity. I’m just trying to think down the line. I’m not sure whether we crossed paths with him in 9.

You previously talked about making an animated feature. Is there any update on that?

Dan Harmon: There might be some leaks happening. Yeah, I think something leaked today, so we were told that we can confirm that there’s a project in the works, that an animated feature… What’s the phrasing? I was told I can say it’s in the works, and that’s what I’m repeating. I don’t know if I use language like it’s been greenlit. I don’t know what that word actually means.

So an animated feature is in the works at Adult Swim?

Dan Harmon: Yeah, no, well… I don’t know. Warner Bros… It’s all the same company now. It’s Mobil Oil too, I think.

Scott Marder: Yeah, the Saudi Empire.

Rick and Morty Season 9 is now streaming on HBO Max.