Rick And Morty: Is Rick Prime The Main Rick?
Rick Sanchez (Justin Roiland and Ian Cardoni) has become obsessed with finding his archnemesis, Rick Prime, over the past few seasons of "Rick and Morty." In the Season 3 premiere, fans learned that Rick Prime killed "our" Rick's wife, Diane (Kari Wahlgren), along with his version of Beth (Sarah Chalke). The fact that he's called Rick Prime might lead some fans to confuse him with the main Rick we follow throughout the series. But in fact, Ricks are usually named after their universe of origin, and the main Rick — the one we follow throughout the series — is Rick C-137.
Rick Prime comes from the prime universe where the first six episodes of "Rick and Morty" took place — the dimension Rick and Morty escape from after it becomes Cronenberged during the events of "Rick Potion #9." However, Rick Prime is not the main Rick. The main Rick from C-137 moved to Rick Prime's universe after that Rick abandoned it, which is where the series premiere starts.
If that still sounds a bit convoluted, the basic timeline is this: After trying to find Rick Prime for years in order to take vengeance for the deaths of his family, Rick C-137 tried one last ploy to catch his foe. He moved to Rick Prime's universe, long abandoned by the evil Rick Prime, and posed as Rick Prime to reunite with the Prime dimension's Beth, Jerry (Chris Parnell), Summer (Spencer Grammer), and Morty (Justin Roiland and Harry Belden). He hoped to be there when Rick Prime returned, planning to take him by surprise.
But before that could happen, the Prime dimension was rendered uninhabitable and Rick C-137 took Morty Prime to another universe, Dimension C-131. Since then, Rick C-137 and the family have inhabited several more dimensions to escape from various calamities.
Rick Prime is not the star of Rick and Morty
Over its seven seasons, "Rick and Morty" has developed a very convoluted timeline. On one hand, the original dimension of each character doesn't matter too much. Most dimensions are nearly identical, and the characters aren't significantly different. For example, the so-called Parmesan dimension they now inhabit is the same as the last one the Smith-Sanchez family escaped from, with the sole difference being that its inhabitants pronounce "parmesan" incorrectly. On the other hand, many episodes make reference to the twisted multidimensional timeline the series has built up.
While Rick Prime may not be the main Rick, he's certainly the most important one, second only to Rick C-137. Rick C-137's vendetta against Rick Prime was the catalytic event for the entire series, and even though he hasn't been mentioned by name in Season 7 yet, we know that Rick C-137 is still pursuing him off-camera. In the Season 6 finale, Rick C-137 promised that Season 7 would be all about that pursuit, but noted that it might all happen in the background. Sure enough, in Season 7, Episode 3, Rick C-137's old flame, the hive-mind Unity (Christina Hendricks), stops by Earth to check on him, saying, "I heard you were going after that guy again." It's unlikely they're referring to anyone other than Rick Prime.