When will Rick Prime be in Rick and Morty Season 7?

❘ Published: 2023-11-08T17:23:00

Adult Swim

Ever since Rick set out his plan to hunt his nemesis Rick Prime in Rick and Morty Season 7, fans have been left wondering: when is the big bad Rick going to show up? Here’s what we know.

Rick and Morty has never been one to shy away from meta humor, but Season 6 took this to a whole new level as Rick embarked on a new character arc while often quite literally letting viewers know (or poking fun at) where the narrative is going and why creative decisions were made.

All of this culminated in the bonkers final scene of the Season 6 finale, ‘Ricktional Mortpoon’s Rickmas Mortcation’, when Rick tells Morty that he’s joining him on his hunt for Rick Prime while quite literally saying this will be the plot for Season 7. “You and me. It’s going to take over your life Morty,” he says. “Rick and Morty Season 7: hunting my nemesis.”

We’re four episodes deep into the seventh chapter and still no sign of Rick Prime – so, when might he show up?

When will Rick Prime be in Rick and Morty Season 7?

Although Rick Prime has been mentioned in Season 7, he’s yet to show his face. But while it’s yet to be confirmed, the signs suggest that he’ll make an appearance in Episode 5, ‘Unmortricken’.

In suitably meta style, the promo for Season 7 Episode 5 shows Rick flying through space as a voiceover says: “The next all-new Rick and Morty is so full of huge spoilers that we aren’t going to show you a single one… for now.”

The fact that they’re keeping details under wraps suggests that the narrative may ramp up in the next episode and see Rick’s Season 6 promise come to fruition. And there are further clues in the clip too.

As highlighted by one eagle-eyed fan: “This is DEFINITELY going to be a Rick Prime episode because those droids are the EXACT same ones Rick fought in Season 6 Episode 1. I can’t wait!!”

“Seems like this will be a lore episode. We’ll probably see Prime and maybe some more Rick backstory,” said another, while a third added: “Finally we will be shown a canonical episode! Hope to see Rick Prime.”

Although creator Dan Harmon kept schtum about whether Episode 5 will definitely see Rick Prime’s return, he spoke with io9 about the process of incorporating canonical content. “I have this general allergy to canonical stuff because I feel like it’ll happen anyway, and therefore leaning into it is like leaning into gravity and falling down when your job is to jump and soar,” he explained.

“But yeah, I was asleep at the wheel. [It was] our passionate writers that were like, ‘No, it’s time to resurface this.’ And the fun thing is that the timing of it works out so that it’s going to be smack in the middle of this season.”

Who is Rick Prime?

Rick Prime, formerly known as Weird Rick, is the sociopathic version of Rick from Cronenberged Dimension, and one of two main villains of Rick and Morty, alongside Evil Morty. Rick Prime is responsible for the deaths of the wife and daughter of Rick C-137 – the version of Rick we all know and love.

In Season 3, we learn that the C-137 versions of Beth and Diane were killed after a bomb dropped through a portal and into their garage, seemingly sent by Rick Prime as revenge for Rick C-137 turning down his offer to leave his family and go timeline hopping.

Rick C-137 and Rick Prime in Rick and Morty Season 3

Rick Prime is the first Rick in the multiverse to develop the portal gun for interdimensional travel. As well as a series of mentions and his physical debut in the Season 3 episode ‘The Rickshank Rickdemption’, Rick Prime appears as a flashback in Season 5’s ‘Rickmurai Jack’, and he’s also in Season 6’s ‘Solaricks’ and the aforementioned finale.

Rick and Morty Season 7 Episode 5 drops on Adult Swim on November 12. You can read more about the series below: