Rick And Morty Season 7 Release Date, Cast, Plot, Trailer And More Details

"Rick and Morty" is back, broh! Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of Adult Swim, has announced Season 7 of the award-winning animated comedy series. The road to this latest season has been tumultuous, with its star actor having been fired, but it seems the wheels of production have nonetheless turned apace.

When last we saw the scientist Rick Sanchez and his grandson, Morty, both were voiced by Justin Roiland, and Rick ended the season by announcing that he would devote his life to tracking down his wife and child's killer. Rick may or may not change his mind on that front, but those close to the series have emphasized that fans should expect nothing about the general feel of the show to change, with Adult Swim president Michael Ouweleen stating, "This season proves that the geniuses at work on 'Rick and Morty' are just getting started."

So, when does it air, who will the cast be, and what can fans expect from "Rick and Morty" Season 7?

Adult Swim has announced that Season 7 of "Rick and Morty" will premiere at 11 p.m. on October 15. According to a press release from Warner Bros. Discovery, "In the U.S., new episodes will be available for purchase from digital retailers the day after they premiere on Adult Swim. The new season will also be available to stream in 2024."

The previous several seasons of the show have also aired in the fall, putting Season 7 right on schedule despite casting shakeups. That's good news for a series that was once infamous for taking upwards of two years between seasons. Of course, right now, the background radiation of the film and television industry are the ongoing strikes by Hollywood writers and actors via their respective unions, the WGA and SAG-AFTRA. The fact that "Rick and Morty" Season 7 will air on schedule this fall suggests that the writing and acting work for the season was completed prior to those strikes, including the voice acting for the characters of Rick Sanchez and Morty Smith.

With one massive exception, the main cast of Rick and Morty Season 7 will be the same as the previous six seasons. The hapless Jerry Smith continues to be voiced by Chris Parnell, unfulfilled horse doctor Beth Smith and her Space Beth clone by Sarah Chalke, and their daughter, Summer Smith, by Spencer Grammer. The supporting cast will almost certainly include series co-creator Dan Harmon, who has always taken on a few voices each season, including the fan-favorite character of Birdperson.

The elephant in the room, of course, is who will voice Rick Sanchez and Morty Smith, both of whom were voiced in the first six seasons by series co-creator Justin Roiland. However, following assault charges against Roiland, which have since been dismissed, along with rumors of alleged unsavory behavior, Adult Swim cut ties with Roiland early this year. He no longer voices the titular Rick and Morty, with Adult Swim hiring two new actors to fill Roiland's shoes. Executive producer Steven Levy told fans at San Diego Comic Con (via Variety) that they were casting "sound-alikes," going on to add, "The characters are the same characters. No change." 

However, even now that we've gotten an official trailer for Season 7 (see below) and have heard their A+ impressions, we still don't know who's playing the two beloved characters. In fact, we won't know until the show actually airs. Why's that? As an anonymous Adult Swim source told The Hollywood Reporter, "We want the show to speak for itself. We believe in the strength of the season and our new voices, and we want to preserve the viewing experience for fans."

"Rick and Morty" Season 7 will be comprised of 10 brand new episodes, the first of which will air on October 15. That puts it right in line with other seasons of the hit animated comedy series. Every previous season has had 10 episodes, apart from Season 1, which contained 11.

We have some sense of the plot for this season, though the press release from Warner Bros. Discovery keeps things vague. "It's Season 7," the description reads, "and the possibilities are endless: What's up with Jerry? EVIL Summer?! And will they ever go back to the high school?! Maybe not! But let's find out! There's probably less piss than last season. 'Rick and Morty,' 100 years! Or at least until season 10!" (That piss reference is no dout referring to the Season 6 episode "Analyze Piss.")

Working off that short synopsis and what happened in previous episodes, can we make any guesses about what's coming? Well, Season 6 ended with Rick enlisting Morty in his obsessive quest to find Rick Prime, the alternate version of himself who killed his wife and daughter. In Rick's final monologue from the Season 6 finale, "Ricktional Mortpoon's Rickmas Mortication," Rick announces, "'Rick and Morty' Season 7: Hunting my nemesis," but he does clarify that not every episode will revolve around that quest and that it might all happen in the background rather than the A-plot.

On September 25, 2023, Adult Swim released the action-packed trailer for "Rick and Morty" Season 7, giving us a highly anticipated glimpse of what's to come on the long-running animated sci-fi comedy. But there's also the matter of how Season 7 marks a monumental cast change. With Justin Roiland having been let go from the show, the Season 7 trailer debuts the efforts of two replacement actors, although their identities will remain concealed until the series premieres on October 15. Having said all that ... they sound pretty good! Whoever's voicing these guys, they've clearly put in the work to capture Roiland's unique vocal qualities.

Other than that big change, "Rick and Morty" looks to continue on in the fashion that made it such a hit. The trailer consists mostly of quick cuts and characters' sarcastic quips as they endure numerous weird and silly sci-fi scenarios. Season 7 will feature Rick turning himself into a head on a leg, Rick maybe hunting down the version of himself who killed his wife, and Rick sending his hologram to a therapy appointment. Plus, we'll see Morty getting kidnapped by aliens, Rick and Morty stoically slaughtering bad guys in a "Blade" homage, and Rick and Morty assisting the president, as well as Rick making some really good spaghetti and Jerry dealing with a "rake situation."

"Rick and Morty" is first and foremost a comedy, but it's also a science fiction series with an elaborate backstory and dense mythology. To properly prepare for Season 7, arriving in October 2023 nearly a year after the end of Season 6, anticipatory viewers might want to binge-watch recent installments (or the entire series) to get hyped and up to speed on all of the many ongoing plot and character arcs.

The entire series is available on multiple major streaming platforms. All six seasons of "Rick and Morty" are available to Hulu subscribers, and they're also ready to watch on Max. Interested viewers who don't subscribe to either Hulu or Max also have the option of purchasing individual episodes or full, past seasons of "Rick and Morty." On Amazon's Prime Video service, a single episode of "Rick and Morty" in standard definition runs $1.99 (with high-definition a bit more at $2.99), and a whole season will cost $9.99.