Rick and Morty fans have been dying for any word on the return date for Season 4, and they may get it this weekend. The sci-fi cartoon features heavily in Pringles’ Super Bowl ad on Sunday, and it could be the perfect place to announce the premiere date for Season 4, Episode 6. Right now, it’s the best lead desperate fans have to go on.
Rick and Morty Season 4 premiered in November, but only half of it aired before the midseason break. Adult Swim promised that the show would “return in 2020,” but many are starting to fear that that return date is far off.
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This Sunday, there will be at least a minute or two of new Rick and Morty content on TV, as the titular characters are featured in Pringles’ ad for the coveted Super Bowl commercials. Some fans have pointed out that this might be the perfect opportunity for Rick and Morty to announce their return as well.
The crossover between Rick and Morty and Pringles does not begin and end with this short ad. On Sunday, a new Pickle Rick-flavored Pringles can will go on sale nationwide as a part of the promotion. With the the two brands this intertwined in the biggest advertising opportunity of the year, it makes sense that Adult Swim might capitalize on this chance to shout the Rick and Morty premiere date for all the world to hear.
Adult Swim has proven that it is not above surprising commercial stunts, especially where Rick and Morty is concerned. In 2017, fans had waited over a year for Season 3 of the series to premiere when suddenly the new episode began playing on April Fool’s Day. It played on a loop for the rest of that night, with no warning or promotion. When it was over, the series did not return for about three more months.
Since Season 4 premiered pretty conventionally last year, many fans are anticipating another big stunt this time around. In an article for Inverse, writer Corey Plante even theorized that the show might make the Pringles ad canon.
“We’re trapped in a Pringles commercial, they must have taken us in our sleep,” Rick says in a teaser for the ad. “They warned me this would happen and I didn’t listen!”
It could be that Summer and Rick have been trapped within this commercial for months now, not realizing that Morty was a robot, and thus losing precious adventuring time. This would be just the kind of meta-commentary joke the show is known for, and it might assuage the crazed fans hounding Adult Swim for new episodes.
Rick and Morty Season 4 will return some time in 2020.