Dan Harmon Wants the RICK AND MORTY Movie to Be "The Greatest Movie Ever to Exist"
If you've been wondering what happened to the long-discussed Rick and Morty movie, you're definitely not alone.
The animated sci-fi series has more content than ever with Season 9 now wrapped, at least three more seasons already in development, and the brand-new President Curtis spinoff already earning a second-season renewal. Even so, fans keep asking the same question: when are Rick and Morty heading to the big screen?
The short answer is that it's still very early. There isn't even a script yet, but co-creator Dan Harmon has confirmed that the wheels are turning.
We already know that longtime Rick and Morty creative Jacob Hair is set to direct, and Harmon recently offered another small but fascinating update while speaking with The Hollywood Reporter.
According to Harmon, there's already an approved concept serving as the foundation for the film, even if the screenplay hasn't been written yet.
He explained: "I just watched the Dune movies because of messing around with the Rick and Morty movie script. I was like, ‘Oh, my God, I’m so late to Dune.’ It’s so rad."
That might be one of the last influences fans expected to hear, but it's easy to imagine Harmon looking at the massive scope and world-building of Denis Villeneuve's Dune films and wondering how to channel that kind of cinematic scale into the wonderfully unhinged universe of Rick and Morty.
As for his ambitions, Harmon isn't aiming low. He shared: "It would be my goal, however self-destructive, to make it the greatest movie ever to exist. That might make it hard to write. It would probably be a sci-fi epic, transcending time and space, but not in a way that was unsatisfying."
That's certainly setting the bar somewhere in another dimension. Harmon also pointed to Dune once again, along with Lethal Weapon 2 and Indiana Jones, as creative touchstones before acknowledging that giving himself unlimited creative freedom hasn't always produced the smoothest path.
He joked: "One could argue that it’s a concept that would be my undoing and the franchise’s as well, since me having permission to think about stuff is not the recipe for success that people would think. It’s more of a trailhead to hell, traditionally."
His creative process has always thrived on chasing huge ideas, even if they occasionally spiral into wonderfully chaotic territory.
Whether the Rick and Morty movie eventually becomes a mind-bending sci-fi adventure inspired by Dune, a pulpy action romp in the spirit of Indiana Jones, or something completely impossible to categorize, it sounds like Harmon wants the film to be epic.
He's clearly thinking big, even if he admits those expectations could make the project even tougher to pull off.
For now, fans will have to be patient. There's still no script and no release window, but at least we know the creative conversations are happening.
In the meantime, there's plenty of Rick and Morty to enjoy, including the newly launched President Curtis, which Harmon co-created, airing Sunday nights on Adult Swim before streaming the following day on HBO Max.
Whenever the movie finally arrives, one thing seems certain: Harmon isn't interested in making something ordinary. If he's shooting for "the greatest movie ever to exist," the journey to get there should be interesting.