Why ‘Rick and Morty’ Season 4, Episode 4 Isn’t Airing This Week

Rick and Morty is taking the week off, and Adult Swim is not even being shy about why. The official Twitter account for the network wrote that it is “forcing” fans to “spend time with [their] family” this weekend. Many fans said that this is a poor substitute for more sci-fi shenanigans.

For the first time in two years, Rick and Morty fans got new episodes to watch this month. The show has a slow production schedule, but it finally launched Season 4 starting a few weeks ago.

That new episode streak breaks this Sunday, and fans are not happy about it. The week off was first announced after the episode broadcast ended on Sunday night. Rick and Morty Season 4, Episode 4 was still incorrectly listed on some TV schedules around the web, so Adult Swim made the news official on Twitter on Monday night.

Instead, the next new episode will air on Sunday, Dec. 8, after Thanksgiving is over. There are only two more episodes left before Rick and Morty takes a mid-season break, so fans will have to savor every moment to sustain themselves.

Thankfully, the show makes that easy with incredibly dense episodes for such an irreverent cartoon. This week’s episode featured a send-up of the heist genre as a whole, with Rick conducting one grand meta-heist to supersede them all. In the end, it all served to advance the subtle story of family politics Rick and Morty is always telling in the background.

Rick and Morty co-creators Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland were honest about their feelings on heist stories in this week’s “Inside the Episode” featurette.

“Yes, Rick’s disdain for the heist genre is absolutely based on mine, yeah,” Harmon said.

“I thoroughly enjoy them, in the same way I enjoy The Room or Troll 2,” Roiland added derisively.

Fortunately, screenwriter Caitie Delaney, who penned the script for the episode, said that she “actually likes” heist movies. Harmon added that he was not sure they would have based an entire episode on something he hated, so it’s a good thing Delaney was on hand to temper that.

Rick and Morty got a 70-episode renewal deal leading up to this season, and Roiland has said that he hopes it will speed up their production time. On his Harmontown podcast, Harmon added that he would considering producing longer seasons in the future as well.

The show has an added bonus coming up in the form of a new platform, as it has officially been added to the roster for HBO Max. The show will be on the streaming service when it launches in May and will hopefully make it easier for fans to watch new episodes in the coming years.

Rick and Morty returns on Sunday, Dec. 8 at 11:30 p.m. ET on Adult Swim.