The general concept of Rick and Morty relies on two conflicting scenarios: domestic family drama and a misanthropic grandfather dragging his grandson into hijinks.

Adult Swim cut ties with Roiland in 2023 amid allegations of domestic abuse and recast his roles with soundalike actors in the seventh season which premiered on October 15, 2023.

He frequently goes on adventures with his 14-year-old grandson, Morty, a kind-hearted but easily distressed boy, whose naïve but grounded moral compass plays counterpoint to Rick's Machiavellian ego.

[17] In the short, which Harmon would dub "a bastardization, a pornographic vandalization", Doc Smith urges Mharti to perform oral sex on him in order to go back in time.

[18][19] Harmon would later create and produce Community, an NBC sitcom,[20] while Roiland would work primarily in voice acting for Disney's Fish Hooks and Cartoon Network's Adventure Time.

Adult Swim, searching for a more prime-time, "hit" show,[22] shortly afterward approached Harmon, who initially viewed the channel as unfit for his style.

[22] Harmon felt the best way to extend the voices into a program would be to build a family around the characters, while Adult Swim development executive Nick Weidenfeld suggested that Rick be Morty's grandfather.

Described as a "very, very tiny little writers' room with a lot of heavy lifting from everybody," the show's writing staff, like many Adult Swim productions, is not unionized with the Writers Guild of America,[26] though in 2022 production staff at Rick & Morty filed a petition for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board in a bid to join The Animation Guild.

[36] Talking about the style guide the animators of the show have to follow, season three art director Jeffrey Thompson explained that the characters are often drawn with odd or asymmetrical features, in order to avoid looking "too normal to live in the Rick and Morty universe.

[41] The same month, Adult Swim announced that they had cut ties with Roiland and fired him from the show stating that the seventh season's production would continue and that his roles would be recast.

[47] The general formula of Rick and Morty consists of the juxtaposition of an extremely selfish, alcoholic grandfather dragging his grandson along for interdimensional adventures, intercut with domestic family drama.

[18][22] Co-creator Dan Harmon has described the series as a cross between Matt Groening's two shows The Simpsons and Futurama, balancing family life with heavy science fiction.

Thereunder, Troy Patterson of The New Yorker notes that Rick and Morty "supplies an artful answer to the question of what follows postmodernism: a decadent regurgitation of all its tropes, all at once, leavened by some humanistic wistfulness.

"[51] The series addresses the insignificance of human existence as compared to the size of the universe, with no recognizable divine presence, as described by Lovecraft's philosophy of cosmicism.

[52] The characters of the show deal with cosmic horror and existential dread, either by asserting the utility of science over magic or by choosing a life in ignorant bliss.

[53] However, as Joachim Heijndermans of Geeks notes, none of them appear able to handle the absurd and chaotic nature of the universe, as Jerry gets by through denial, and Rick is a "depressed, substance-addicted, suicidal mess".

[57][58] Matthew Bulger of The Humanist notes that the creators of the series are trying to communicate the message that we need to focus on human relationships and not preoccupy our minds with unanswerable questions, in order to find a sense of purpose and live a better life.

In May 2012, Adult Swim unveiled its development slate that included a Rick and Morty pilot from Harmon and Roiland,[61] which was eventually picked up to series in October 2012, as one of the network's first primetime original shows.

[63] Two months earlier, in February 2014, the show had been renewed for a second season, with the press release noting that Rick and Morty consistently outperformed direct competition in its time slot.

[65] In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Roiland said that Rick and Morty will remain "a big priority above anything else" for him in the future, and expressed his intention to keep the show growing.

[73][74] Roiland was confident that this big renewal deal would allow the creators to minimize the gaps between seasons to no more than a year,[75] as they would be able to schedule their time around the show and "keep the machine going.

He praised the animation direction by James McDermott for being "fresh, colorful and as wacky as the script", and states that the series possesses "shades of Futurama, South Park and even Beetlejuice", ultimately opining that its humor felt "entirely original".

"[107] In a review shortly after the second-season premiere, Sean Sebastian of Junkee said that although the crude animation and over-the-top voice acting might have discouraged some viewers from continuing to watch, Rick and Morty is "exceptionally well-made" and that "the more you dissect it, the more you find it has to say.

Creator Justin Roiland and showrunner Mike McMahan have gone on to co-create Solar Opposites, an animated sci-fi sitcom that has been frequently compared to Rick and Morty.

[125][126] Gravity Falls creator Alex Hirsch, who worked on the episode "Big Trouble in Little Sanchez", would become an executive producer of Inside Job, another show that has had comparisons drawn to Rick and Morty for being similarly themed.

[159] On May 20, 2021, Adult Swim announced a short spin-off series centred on the Vindicators team (Supernova, Vance Maxiumus, Alan Rails, Crocubot and Noob Noob) previously seen on the episode, "Vindicators 3: The Return of Worldender" to be in development, alongside spin-offs from other Adult Swim shows like Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Robot Chicken, and Your Pretty Face Is Going to Hell.

[162] Rick and Morty, both voiced by Roiland, have a cameo in 2021's Space Jam: A New Legacy, as they claim to have experimented on the Tasmanian Devil but say they were disgusted by the results; thus, they voluntarily give him back to LeBron James and the Looney Tunes by dropping him on their rocket's windshield.

Said opening involved Rick accidentally killing the family when he crash-lands into their living room causing Morty to go on a mission to bring them back to life.

[180][181] In 2022, Wendy's offered Rick and Morty-inspired combo meals exclusively on Uber Eats and brought back their "Portal Time Lemon Lime" soft drink to promote the series' sixth season.

The ad involves Rick and Morty traversing the world of Death Stranding to deliver packages to stations in order to rebuild human civilization while trying to avoid being harmed by hostiles.