Rick and Morty fans are eagerly awaiting the arrival of the next season later this year – but the release of every episode of spin-off Vindicators 2 should tide people over in the meantime.
Unlike its parent show, the superhero spin-off (based on the episode 'Vindicators 3: The Return of Worldender') is actually a series of shorts, all between two and three minutes long.
Speaking exclusively to Digital Spy at the San Diego Comic-Con, showrunner Sarah Carbiener explained the reason for the change in format.
"That was what Adult Swim asked for, so that was the logic behind that. But I think that was one of the major reasons that me and my writing partner Erica Rosbe wanted to do it," she explained. "In those shorts that are two to three minutes, you just get to be f**king weird.
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"We got the chance to play with the characters in a way you don't [in a longer episode].
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"In a half hour television [episode] you have to service a ton of plot, and you're in this machine that's go go go go going – whereas in two to three minutes, ironically because it's so tiny and small, you get to slow down and do something cool and strange."
Carbiener added that a downside of the shorter format is that occasionally, they were so in love with a character or a idea that they wanted to write a longer episode as a result. But she acknowledged that a shorter episode length allows for more creativity.
"That was definitely part of the appeal, was getting to work on something so short and so tight... You have to think, 'What are the bite-sized chunks of these people's live that are going to be funny and really interesting to watch?' We don't want it to feel like an episode of TV cut up into 10 pieces."
Carbiener also talked about why they decided to make a spin-off about these characters in particular, and whether you'd need to watch the original show for Vindicators 2 to make sense.
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"I think that most of the characters that are in the Rick and Morty world, all the side characters could have their own spin-offs... because everything is so rich in that world, and so much is hinted at that you can only touch on. So I think there's room for so many of those characters," she explained.
"With the Vindicators, we implied an entire previous life – other movies, they're part of a franchise. Because it's already an ensemble of them, and there's this story, [this] past we get to backfill. And everybody loves Million Ants."
She added: "Rick and Morty knowledge definitely helps but I think you could pretty much dive in [without seeing it]... probably because superheroes are so ubiquitous, there's a shorthand.
"So, probably for that reason, you could derive some enjoyment just jumping in."
Rick and Morty airs on Adult Swim in the US, and on E4 and All 4 in the UK. Vindicators 2 is out now on Adult Swim's YouTube channel.
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Joe Anderton is a freelance news writer at Digital Spy, having worked there since 2016. In his time, he's covered a host of live events and interviewed celebrities big and small. A big fan of TV and movies both mainstream and obscure, Joe also enjoys video games and in particular PlayStation. Joe currently does not use Twitter, but he only ever used it to tell people to watch the film Help! I'm a Fish.
After teaching in England and South Korea, David turned to writing in Germany, where he covered everything from superhero movies to the Berlin Film Festival.
In 2019, David moved to London to join Digital Spy, where he could indulge his love of comics, horror and LGBTQ+ storytelling as Deputy TV Editor, and later, as Acting TV Editor.
David has spoken on numerous LGBTQ+ panels to discuss queer representation and in 2020, he created the Rainbow Crew interview series, which celebrates LGBTQ+ talent on both sides of the camera via video content and longform reads.
Beyond that, David has interviewed all your faves, including Henry Cavill, Pedro Pascal, Olivia Colman, Patrick Stewart, Ncuti Gatwa, Jamie Dornan, Regina King, and more — not to mention countless Drag Race legends.
As a freelance entertainment journalist, David has bylines across a range of publications including Empire Online, Radio Times, INTO, Highsnobiety, Den of Geek, The Digital Fix and Sight & Sound.
