Dan Harmon Talks Overhauling ‘Rick And Morty’ Workplace, Fears & Hopes For Future Of Adult Animation – Contenders TV Nominees Studio

There was “a great deal of turbulence,” Dan Harmon acknowledged, following co-creator and star Justin Roiland’s 2023 ouster from Adult Swim‘s Rick and Morty ahead of Season 7, amid domestic violence charges (which were ultimately dropped) and other allegations of misconduct. But it feels now, that the ship has been righted and the page has been turned.

“This was a show that was grandfathered in from an era of less accountability, less awareness, less complication, and just creating a workplace where everybody felt human and grown up, that was enough to take several years,” said Rick and Morty co-creator, writer and executive producer Harmon at Deadline’s Contenders Television: The Nominees Studio, appearing alongside showrunner/EP Scott Marder.

Watch the conversation below and scroll down for photos from the event.

One of the biggest behind-the-scenes shifts, Harmon said, has been fostering a workplace “where collaboration replaced the auteur model — where even an egomaniac like me could admit and benefit from the fact that people that went to art school actually know better than me how to tell a story.”

Credited by Harmon as instrumental to the changes he described, Marder told us another facet of Rick and Morty’s evolution has been creating a work environment that’s a bit less brutal — where systems were put in place to ensure the show wouldn’t “kill any one particular person” with work demands.

“It’s a really tough show. We rewrite constantly, all that sort of stuff,” Marder noted. “By the time [Season] 9 was in place, all these systems were working and gelling, and morale was high.”

Gratifying, for Marder, is the quality of work that has resulted from Rick and Morty’s behind-the-scenes reboot. This year, Rick and Morty — a comedy chronicling the dimension-hopping misadventures of a cynical genius scientist and his anxious teenage grandson — scored its fifth Emmy nomination for Outstanding Animated Program. The show’s first nom since 2023 affords it a chance to win the category for a third time.

“What’s cool about Season 9 is it’s the first one that I’ve heard people even put up there with the first two, which really feels rewarding,” said Marder. “I feel like Season 9 is the most in-sync flow we’ve had with the directors and art teams…which is why…people love the writing, but they also feel like the art has picked up, as well.”

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L-R: Dan Harmon and Scott Marder

Anthony Avellano for Deadline

Dan Harmon

Anthony Avellano for Deadline

Scott Marder

Anthony Avellano for Deadline

L-R: Dan Harmon and Scott Marder

Anthony Avellano for Deadline

Scott Marder

Anthony Avellano for Deadline

During their chat with Deadline, the Rick and Morty duo confirmed that Season 10 is on track to premiere next summer. Joking that “it’s being generated by Palantir as we speak,” Harmon also spoke to his “cynical fear” for the future of adult animation — the question being, “how possible is this tomorrow?”

Harmon argued that the Covid pandemic created “an illusion of huge demand” for this kind of content, but notes that animation has always been “a high-risk, high-yield thing.”

“It’s not slop; it’s not driven by an algorithm,” Harmon said. “It takes longer to make your pilot than the average executive’s job is going to be secure. I don’t mean that to be crass because I could say the same thing about actors, writers, everybody. I mean, Venice is sinking.”

The counterargument to Harmon’s cynicism is a show like Adult Swim’s Common Side Effects, which he described as being imbued with “a sort of unprecedented humanity.”

“Fingers crossed, adult animation continues to be a thing. Because I believe that what Mike White does with White Lotus can be done even more effectively with animation,” Harmon said. “It’s a medium that that has a huge use for redeeming humanity.”