Editor’s note: The below interview contains spoilers for the Rick and Morty Season 7 finale.

The Big Picture

Season 7 of Rick and Morty introduces new character voice actors and explores important character development, including therapy and fear of abandonment. The Season 7 finale reveals that only Morty jumped into the Fear Hole, though he later accepts the fact that Rick never followed him, putting him in a stronger emotional state. Rick and Morty EP Steve Levy says that the Season 7 finale is the first time Morty has been self-reflective on a deeper level about himself and his relationship with Rick.

Season 7 marks the first installment of Rick and Morty that’s seen the series shake things up on more than one front. While the voices of both lead characters were recast ahead of the season’s premiere — Ian Cardoni now takes on the eccentric scientist Rick Sanchez, while Harry Belden delivers on Rick’s anxiety-ridden grandson Morty Smith — the show also tackled a lot of interesting narrative ground this year. Rick not only went back to therapy with Dr. Wong (Susan Sarandon), but seemed to approach some of his long-term mental health struggles differently as a result. Meanwhile, Morty has always held a deep-seated fear that his grandfather will abandon him — which comes to a head in Season 7’s finale, “Fear No Mort.”

While the ominously described “Fear Hole” (in a Denny’s bathroom, of all places) seems to force both Rick and Morty to tackle their biggest issues, the finale’s closing minutes reveal that Morty was the only one to jump into the Fear Hole in the first place. Rick never followed him in — and Morty’s acceptance of that puts him in a stronger emotional place to accept whatever comes next. Meanwhile, even after his grandson confirms to him that some twisted version of Diane (Kari Wahlgren) exists in the Fear Hole, Rick makes the conscious decision not to venture in, visibly accepting the fact that his wife is truly gone.

Ahead of the Season 7 finale, Collider had the opportunity to speak to several members of Rick and Morty’s cast and crew, including Belden, Sarah Chalke (who voices Beth), Chris Parnell (the voice behind Jerry), and executive producer Steve Levy. Over the course of the interview, which you can read below, Belden reveals his dialogue trick for getting into character as Morty, while Chalke and Parnell discuss whether they still have anything on their personal wishlists that they haven’t gotten to tackle within the last seven seasons yet. Levy also explains how they tackled some of the show’s biggest parodies this season, what the Season 7 finale means for Morty in particular, and whether fans can look forward to more episodes where Rick and Morty are having their own standalone adventures.

Rick and Morty Release Date December 2, 2013 Rating TV-14 Seasons 6 Studio Cartoon Network

COLLIDER: Steve, Season 7 does a lot of really fun pop culture nods — like the Predator, and the Popey ball, as Rick calls it in the episode. Where do you feel like the line is, though, between parody and a potential lawsuit? How careful are you about making sure you don’t cross that?

STEVE LEVY: We follow the joy and fun in the writer’s room, so if something like a Popey ball is making us laugh, it may very well end up in the show, and then it’s up to the network to navigate the legality of it. We get approval. They’re the ones going, “You have to change some things so that we don’t run into problems here.” They tell us if we’re walking up to the parody line versus, you know… So, we kind of follow our bliss and then are told from on high what we have to do to make it work.

Harry Belden Has One Line That Instantly Gets Him Into Morty’s Voice
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Harry, when taking on a character like this, there’s probably a little bit of an adjustment period and finding your way. Is there anything that you tend to do in the recording booth beforehand, aside from vocal warm-ups? Is there a line of dialogue that you like to say to get you into character?

LEVY: You gotta do one at least.

HARRY BELDEN: Yeah, of course. I’ll bust it out. Steve knows.

LEVY: We had a whole lot of them.

BELDEN: There were so many. When we were doing Episode 1, we were doing some lines and I read a line, and Steve was just like, “That’s it. That’s it right there. That gets you in the pocket of Morty. Let’s do that before every line now. It was great.” So, before almost every single line I do, I’ll just hit a nice little, [in Morty voice] “Okay, I get it, y’know!” And then that kind of puts me right in the pocket to say whatever I need. If it’s a more intense or angry line, we’ll use something else or whatever, but that’s my go-to. Something about that phrase and that characterization just puts me in Morty’s head.

Sarah and Chris, last season we talked about Space Beth and the surprising incest theme, and it feels like the affair between the Beths has sort of cooled off a little, but honestly, I got the vibe that those two and Jerry are still spending some time together as a trio. Is there a possibility of a triad situation happening?

SARAH CHALKE: Yeah, I think Space Beth now just kind of fits into the family. She has meals with them and it’s very natural. In terms of where that goes, I wouldn’t be allowed to say if I knew, but I don’t know.

CHRIS PARNELL: I hope so.

CHALKE: I hope! That’d be fabulous.

From a Jerry perspective, I’m sure he wouldn’t be opposed at all.

PARNELL: Not at all, no.

Harry, Evil Morty is a character that’s popped up again, obviously in a very climactic way with him helping in the hunt for Prime Rick, and ultimately playing a role there. Do you feel like there are any differences that you try to affect between a character like that and the Morty that we tend to see more often on these adventures? Are they all simply Morty at their core?

BELDEN: No, I think that every Morty is different. Yeah, our Morty, Prime Morty, is so fun, and he’s obviously a very complicated character, but with Evil Morty there’s a lot of just cold, calculated… not malice but drive that he has that I kind of need to channel when I play him. He’s a fascinating character. You know, when I was a fan of the show, all I wanted was to know more about who Evil Morty was and how he came to be, and now that we’ve gotten a good taste of that in Episode 5, it’s really just about getting into this mindset of a Morty who is possibly smarter than Rick. I think that it’s on the table for discussion. He’s just a lot of fun to play as a character.

Season 7’s Finale Is the “First Domino to Fall” for Morty’s Personal Journey
Image via Adult Swim

Along those lines, I wanted to ask about the finale, and this is probably a question that both Harry and Steve can speak to. We get what we think is Rick’s greatest fear, but it turns out to be Morty’s, about Rick. How is the revelation that he has, the acceptance of that deep-seated fear, going to change their dynamic into the next season?

LEVY: This is a good question. As much as Rick is sort of having to do the hard work of learning more about himself, or at least come face-to-face with who he is and what he wants, we haven’t really experienced that too much, the deep dive with Morty, and this is really the first time Morty is self-reflective on a deeper level on his relationship with Rick and what he wants and what is real. This is just the first domino to fall in that exploration.

BELDEN: Yeah, it’s the first time Morty’s really been forced to do a deep introspection and figure out what makes him tick and figure out who he is as a person — which is something we all go through, especially when you’re 14 and figuring out the world, even without a crazy sci-fi grandpa.

Sarah and Chris, as the vets seven seasons in, there’s so much that these characters have been through, but do you still have anything on your personal wishlist that you would love the chance to explore in a future season?

CHALKE: I feel like we’ve already gotten to do so much more than I had ever anticipated. I mean, at the very beginning, when we first read the pilot, we were at home, you know? Rick and Morty did the off-planet adventures, and we were at home. Then the second that broke open, we got to do all of the things and then learn so much more about their lives, and Beth’s childhood and what makes her who she is. Then obviously, Beth and Jerry’s divorce, and then they’re coming back together, and all these things. It’s already gone so above and beyond any expectations or wishes or anything that I could have imagined. Anything I could wish for and come up with, I don’t think could touch what the Rick and Morty writers’ room would do.

PARNELL: Yeah, I agree with that. I feel the same way. I don’t really need a wishlist because they just keep giving us such amazing places to go to. Playing the Rick version of Jerry was a lot of fun, and Jricky. Jerry’s gotten to go quite a few different places, and I trust that he’ll continue to explore that.

Don’t Expect ‘Rick and Morty’s Solo Adventure Episodes to Signal a Big Shift in Future Seasons
Image via Adult Swim

Steve, this season is one where Rick and Morty have the hunt for Rick Prime, the classic Rick and Morty adventures, the very hilarious twist on the clip show where Morty tries to cash in his punch cards. But they’ve also had standalone adventures, independent of each other. Is that something we can anticipate more of in future seasons — these two not always being a team?

LEVY: It’s not something that we are seeking out specifically. We’re following the joy, and if it happens that Morty isn’t as much in an episode, or Rick, it’s just where the story took us for this season. Part of why we decided to go down that route is because we hadn’t done anything like it yet. We were like, “Oh, we have so many episodes. We’ve done so much in this show. Why not? It’s okay if Morty isn’t in this one as much, or if Rick isn’t in an episode.” We have such a long order, and we’re really grateful for that, and we are just trying some stuff out. All the episodes of Season 7 made us laugh really, really hard when we were making it throughout post and everything. We’re really proud of how far the show has come, especially this particular season, and we’re very excited for what’s to come in the future seasons.

Rick and Morty can be streamed on Max, with Season 7 available beginning January 22.

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