Solar Opposites co-creator Mike McMahan and writer/executive producer Josh Bycel have a big message for fans of Rick and Morty.
The Hulu animated series has just released its third season, while Rick and Morty fans have just one month left of their long wait for the show's sixth season.
But however long Rick and Morty takes to make, it is not the fault of Solar Opposites. Speaking exclusively to Digital Spy at Comic-Con 2022, McMahan and Bycel pleaded with Rick and Morty fans to stop blaming them for the show taking so long to make.
Related: Solar Opposites bosses reveal the Disney jokes they're not allowed to tell
"Making Solar Opposites in no way shape or form affects how long it takes to make Rick and Morty," Bycel said.
"We need to get that out there! Everybody seems to think the reason Rick and Morty takes so long is because everyone’s busy on Solar Opposites," McMahan added.
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"It’d be like claiming McDonald's is slowing down the Burger King people because they both have buns. It is not true. It is a totally different group. Stop yelling at us!"
McMahan cut his teeth working on Rick and Morty for six years, eventually being promoted to showrunner. He then co-created Solar Opposites with Rick and Morty's Justin Roiland.
Speaking about Solar Opposites' comparisons to Rick and Morty, McMahan said that if there are any similarities in episodes, it's coincidental.
"The only thing that drives me crazy is when... Like, now, I'm separate enough from Rick and Morty that I get to watch it as a new fan. I don't know what they're doing anymore," McMahan said.
"But sometimes we double up because we're both playing with sci-fi a little bit, and that drives me crazy. But tonally, our show is so different that usually we don't double. You know what I mean? Usually, Rick and Morty is about Rick and Morty.
"We don't have either of those characters in our show, and we don't have that storyline that they're building and that sense of humour. We've got this more Flintstones slash Simpsons slash Home Improvement kind of family 'naïve characters' kind of show.
Related: Solar Opposites is so much more than just another Rick and Morty
"So honestly, if we ever bump into Rick and Morty, it means that like… I think they're geniuses. So it's like, 'Oh, we brushed up against genius while making our funny show'."
"We’re never trying to be Rick and Morty. First, we tried to really stay away from it," he added. "But at the end of the day, when we're writing for our actors and for our characters in these stories, it doesn't feel the same.
"Anyone who watches it can tell you: the art is similar because Justin draws things that make you laugh, and that's a really rare, amazing thing to have. And that's why I really wanted to work with him on this."
Solar Opposites season 3 is available now on Disney+ in the UK, with new episodes releasing weekly on Wednesdays. It can be streamed on Hulu in the US.
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Stephanie is a freelance news writer, who previously covered WWE and AEW for Digital Spy.
After graduating with a degree in history from Queen Mary University, London, she studied journalism at Birkbeck University.
Outside of her work at Digital Spy, she writes about pop culture, with a special focus towards Irish media and how it intersects with politics.
You can read more of her work on her Substack page.
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.
