Various episodes of Adult Swim’s “Rick and Morty” have become famous over the years, but if there’s one that has gone even beyond its fanbase – it’s “Pickle Rick”.
The third season episode, penned by “She-Hulk” showrunner Jessica Gao, sees Rick turns himself into a talking pickle to avoid going to family therapy, with much of the episode playing out like a satire of 80s/90s action cinema.
The episode spawned a bunch of merchandise, including a line of pickle-flavored seltzers and a Pringles tie-in. Yet whilst out promoting the show’s upcoming sixth season, co-creator Justin Roiland tells Screen Rant that he and Dan Harmon were caught by surprise over the episode’s success:
“Dan [Harmon] and I and the writers, we never know which ones are gonna be the big popular episode. Like we never thought Pickle Rick was gonna be some huge, jump-out thing.
I swear to god, we had other episodes that we thought would be more popular. I mean, we loved the episode, don’t get me wrong, but we didn’t know, we had no clue, so when that thing blew up, we were like, ‘Holy s—, okay.'”
Along with being a cultural phenomenon, the episode won the show its first Emmy for Best Animated Series. Even so, Roiland admits there was another third season episode they thought was gonna be the big deal and “that one nobody gave a s— about”. He wouldn’t say which one though.
“Rick and Morty” returns for a sixth season from tonight.
