Rick And Morty Season 4 Is Coming Back Sooner Than You Think

The boys are (almost) back in town.

Adult Swim has finally confirmed when Rick and Morty will return to splatter universe-hopping, alien-killing, existence-pondering chaos across our television and laptop screens. The company spilled the Bootleg Portal Fluid through an announcement video, perfectly set to "The Boys are Back in Town" by Irish band Thin Lizzy, that revealed the second half of Rick and Morty season 4 will premiere on Sunday, May 3 at 11:30 PM ET.

That's a little over a month away from the date of the announcement video (and the time of this writing) — which will come as welcome news for fans, given that the last they saw of Rick and Morty was the fifth episode of season 4 that aired in December 2019. 

Though Rick and Morty season 4 was pushed as being a 10-episode-long, two-part collection — co-creators Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland wanted to air what they could when they could, and use the extra time to ensure what was released was of the highest quality – viewers were offered no hard promise as to when the second half of the season would premiere. The fourth season only hit Adult Swim on November 10, 2019, and the prospect of having to wait for an indeterminate amount of time after only a month of Rick and Morty goodness left some feeling weary — even more so considering that audiences had to endure an agonizing two-year break between the end of Rick and Morty season 3 and the start of season 4. 

Thankfully, though, part 2 of Rick and Morty season 4 is officially on the way, and will be here before anyone knows it.

As far as the video itself goes, it's comprised of typical Rick and Morty stuff: badass mech suits that make the narcissistic genius Rick Sanchez and his neurotic grandson Morty Smith (both voiced by Roiland) look like heroes in a Japanese anime, gross and gooey alien creatures, an unidentified potion that Rick drinks from a beaker in the middle of a laser gun battle, some sort of genetic modification that's caused Rick to grow several extra arms, another experiment that lights Morty up like the X-Men mutant Jean Grey when she's in Dark Phoenix mode, Morty expressing fear in the midst of an adventure with his grandfather, and Rick coming up with a hilariously dark escape plan if things go wrong — which they inevitably always do.

Plus, there's the warm familiarity of Jerry Smith (Chris Parnell) remaining the luckless doof he's always been. At the table while the Sanchez-Smith family eats breakfast, Jerry insists that he has a life and dreams of his own — evidenced by the sneaky shot of a bottle of honey labeled "Jerry's Own," signaling that perhaps he's started a honey-making company or become a beekeeper — which inspires incredulous looks from his loved ones.

Excitingly, there's also the appearance of two Rick and Morty characters of yesteryear: the Galactic Federation deep-cover agent Tammy Gueterman (Cassie Steele), seen battling her former "best friend" Summer Smith (Spencer Grammer); and Morty's dog Snuffles (Rob Paulsen), who renamed himself Snowball and incited an animal rebellion after Jerry used one of Rick's inventions to boost the pup's IQ. In the video, Snuffles is shown duking it out with a suited-up cat on what appears to be a war-torn planet.

Very little that happens on Rick and Morty is without a purpose, so there's obviously a reason why Tammy and Snuffles/Snowball are a part of the season 4 story. Additionally, if Tammy pops up, there's a chance that her old beau Birdperson (Dan Harmon) will too, now operating under the name "Phoenixperson." (He's the one character we've hoped would return on Rick and Morty season 4, so fingers crossed.)

How exactly they fit into the fold will be revealed after Rick and Morty season 4, part 2 premieres on Sunday, May 3 at 11:30 PM ET.