Watch The Opening Scene Of Rick And Morty Season 5

According to producer Scott Marder, the upcoming fifth season of "Rick and Morty" will consist not of standalone stories but rather a continuous narrative that will develop over the course of the entire season (via Digital Spy). Though the majority of episodes of "Rick and Morty" thus far have told self-contained narratives, the Adult Swim animated series has nevertheless managed to build up a substantial canon of recurring characters and plot elements within many of those individual stories. Space Beth, for example, was a character introduced in Season 4 as a clone of Morty's (voiced by Justin Roiland) mother Beth (Sarah Chalke). Whereas normal Beth lives a typical suburban lifestyle, Space Beth is an intergalactic outlaw. According to Marder, Space Beth (who may actually be the original Beth, making Morty's supposed mother a clone) is set to play an important role in Season 5.

Beyond these and a few other vague clues, like the titles of each episode in Season 5, much of the content of the upcoming "Rick and Morty" season has yet to be detailed. But Adult Swim threw fans a bone on June 18, releasing the opening scene of the Season 5 premiere two days in advance of the episode's air date.

The first moments of "Rick and Morty" Season 5 will look familiar to longtime fans of the series: Rick (Justin Roiland) and Morty are in trouble on an unnamed planet in space, and escape from an unspecified threat in Rick's spaceship just in the knick of time. "Rick and Morty" often places its titular characters on generic adventures, from which it then typically sets up and attempts to subvert various genre cliches.

On this particular adventure, Rick is badly injured, so Morty is in charge of navigating Rick's spaceship back to Earth. On the way, he calls his crush Jessica (Kari Wahlgren). He finally and unguardedly expresses his feelings about her, presumably thinking that the ship might crash and end his life. As it turns out, Jessica reciprocates his confession, and even — in a line typical of Dan Harmon projects — offhandedly accuses Morty of selfishness for failing to share his true feelings with her sooner.

Now reenergized, Morty manages to crash the ship into the ocean, saving his and Rick's lives. When Rick comes to, however, he's immediately worried about Morty's choice of landing spot. On cue, a sort of Aquaman-slash-Namor-esque character emerges, declaring himself Rick's "once and eternal foe, Mister Nimbus," with whom Rick must contend after breaking an apparent treaty between land and sea.

The clip, which Adult Swim actually released unfinished animation for way back in July 2020, ends after the introduction of Mister Nimbus. Given that Season 5 is supposed to tell a continuous story, the role of Rick's arch nemesis very well may play an important part beyond the episode in which he debuts.

"Rick and Morty" Season 5 will premiere on June 20 at 11 PM ET on Adult Swim.