Danny Trejo Played An Epic Character On Rick And Morty And You Didn't Know
Ask any fan of the smash hit Adult Swim animated series Rick and Morty to name their favorite episode, and the chances are better than average that they'll come up with season 3's "Pickle Rick," one of the nuttiest installments of the most bonkers series on television. Part '80s action movie homage, part family drama, and part Cronenbergian body horror, the episode has earned its place among the most fondly regarded Rick and Morty outings of all time thanks to its singularly absurd premise and jaw-droppingly awesome execution.
In the episode, Rick (voiced by Justin Roiland) comes up with a scheme befitting a perpetually drunk mad scientist: He turns himself into a literal pickle, for the express purpose of avoiding a family therapy session with his daughter Beth (Sarah Chalke) and grandchildren Morty (also Roiland) and Summer (Spencer Grammer). He rigs a syringe of anti-pickle serum on a timer to, er, de-pickle himself after his family leaves — but Beth quickly discovers the failsafe and sticks it in her purse, leaving her father in a pickle. (Or rather, as a pickle.)
After being accidentally swept into the sewer, Pickle Rick manages to build himself a weaponized, powered exoskeleton from the brains, body parts, and nervous systems of the local rat and cockroach population, and ends up popping out of the toilet in a mysterious compound staffed with armed agents and one lethal prisoner — a mercenary named Jaguar, whom the compound's administrator sets free with instructions to kill the intruder in exchange for his freedom. Unfortunately for all the goons, Rick is able to talk Jaguar over to his side, and together the pair demolish the hapless agents and make their escape.
If Jaguar's voice sounds familiar, it may be because it belongs to one of the most prolific actors working today: the great Danny Trejo, upon whom Jaguar's look was also heavily based.
Danny Trejo has a surprising number of voice credits
One look at Trejo's IMDb page will immediately bring to mind the question of whether this man ever sleeps. He may be best-known for his role in the Spy Kids and Machete flicks, but he's appeared in a positively unreasonable number of movies and TV series — and even though he's in his 70s, he shows absolutely no signs of slowing down. As of this writing, Trejo has no fewer than 13 projects which are either filming or in pre-production, with several more completed but not yet released, and even more that have been announced but not yet entered production (like Machete Kills in Space, which we simply cannot wait to feast our eyes on).
Among all of those credits are a shocking number of animated features and television projects to which Trejo has lent his distinctive gravelly baritone. He's appeared on animated superhero series like The Spectacular Spider-Man, Young Justice, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; popped up on kids' series such as The Adventures of Puss in Boots, Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure, and 3Below: Tales of Arcadia; and guested on adult animated shows King of the Hill, Family Guy, American Dad!, and The Cleveland Show. Did we mention animated features? Trejo has appeared in such flicks as 2016's Storks, 2011's Top Cat: The Movie, and 2007's Battle for Terra — and just for good measure, he's also done voice work on a slew of video games including Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Fallout: New Vegas, and The Fight: Lights Out.
Yes, Trejo is a (very) grizzled veteran of voice work, and since Jaguar was last seen jetting off to parts unknown after saving Rick and Morty from the piano-themed supervillain Concerto in his episode's post-credits scene, fans have been holding out hope that they'll see him again one day. Considering that Trejo apparently lives on sound stages and in voice booths, we find this to be pretty likely.