Rick and Morty bosses Dan Harmon and Scott Marder have opened up about how season 6 will balance its canon.
With the new season fast approaching, showrunner Marder and co-creator Harmon told Entertainment Weekly how they intend to achieve that equilibrium.
"We had a lot of loose threads that we needed to answer," said Marder, revealing how important it was to them to deliver a great season premiere. "So it was important to us to give a big first episode back that really delivered on what the finale from season 5 had left open."
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According to Marder, season 6 delivers a balance between standalone episodes and episodes that continue its canon.
"For me, season 6 is a nice step up on season 5 in that it's got great episodes, but it's also got a little bit more continuity and self-awareness and a little bit more interconnectivity than the previous one, as well as a balance between canon and non-canon."
Marder also revealed that the opening episode of the upcoming series will deliver "a really cool sci-fi conceit that organically let us look backwards and forwards".
The showrunner described episode 1 of season 6 as: "Another awesome sci-fi concept that would've stood on its own, but also became a cool way to pay tribute to one of my favorite things that I had ever seen on this show."
Related: Rick and Morty releases official season 6 trailer
Meanwhile, co-creator Dan Harmon told the publication that he prefers standalone stories and regularly wrestles with younger "intense" writers on the show who want to expand the Rick and Morty universe.
"Let's listen to what you're intense about and, since I have broken a thousand stories, let me help you figure out the difference between a satisfying story and an unsatisfying one," he said of the process.
Rick and Morty airs on Adult Swim in the US, and on E4 and All 4 in the UK.
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Harriet is a freelance news writer specialising in TV and movies at Digital Spy.
A horror enthusiast, she joined Digital Spy after working on her own horror website, reviewing films and focusing largely on feminism in the genre.
In her spare time, Harriet paints and produces mixed-media art. She graduated from the University of Kingston with a BA in fine art, where she specialised in painting. She also has an MA in journalism from Birkbeck University.
