Rick And Morty Boss Finally Responds To Those Season 5 Leaks
September 5 marked the premiere of the final two episodes of the fifth season of "Rick and Morty — a two-parter titled "Forgetting Sarick Mortshall" and "Rickmurai Jack." The second of those episodes, "Rickmurai Jack," included significant new insight into Rick's past and his influence on the multiverse in which the series takes palace. Some of the information featured in Rick's backstory was first detailed in the eighth episode of the season, "Rickternal Friendshine of the Spotless Mort." Oftentimes episodes of "Rick and Morty" stand entirely alone, so that callback to information from two episodes prior was a notable instance of "Rick and Morty" building on recently established canon, rather than simply introducing an entirely new adventure.
That said, "Rick and Morty" Season 5 included one other significant callback in its seventh episode, to a moment from its fourth. Not only was this one of only a few major moments in the season to build on information from a prior episode, but Episode 7 leaked ahead of its premiere date, ruining the surprise for viewers aware its early availability.
Leading up to the conclusion of Season 5, "Rick and Morty" producer Scott Marder shared his thoughts on the leak for the first time in an appearance on "Interdimensional RSS: The Unofficial Rick and Morty Podcast."
Understandably, Marder was unhappy about the leak
Scott Marder told "Interdimensional RSS" hosts Travis Menard and Brandon Cruz that he was "furious" when he first found out that Season 5 Episode 7 leaked in advance of its planned release date, explaining that he and the rest of the "Rick and Morty" team are "really big on our security." In short, the season's seventh episode, "GoTron Jerrysis Rickvangelion," premiered on Amazon Video in Canada on the date that Episode 4, "Rickdependence Spray," should have been added to the streaming service. Though the error was soon remedied, the episode was nevertheless ripped and circulated online.
"We intentionally thought it was cool to surprise people with a callback within the same season," Marder said, referring to the fact that the climax of Episode 7 features a character established in season's fourth episode. "We rarely call things back," he added. "I was bummed about it. You want things to air in the order you saw them in your mind."
"Rick and Morty" is currently slated to air for at least two more seasons, so the leak of Season 5, Episode 7 very well may serve as a cautionary tale moving into the series' future.