‘Rick and Morty’ Season 4, Episode 4 Preview Shows Rick Facing a Dragon

The preview for the next episode of Rick and Morty is now online after a long week off. The show took a break this past Sunday during the Thanksgiving holiday, but this weekend it will be back with a burning hot new episode.

The official Rick and Morty Twitter account released the preview for the next installment on Monday. It teased an episode about Morty mismanaging a pet dragon which Rick then had to slay. Of course, the scientist is far from a knight in shining armor, and there are plenty of tropes to subvert here.

Rick apparently finds the dragon in a subterranean lair filled with gold and other typical medieval fantasy loot. After establishing that he is immune to its fiery breath and dissolving into a hologram at least once, he goes on the offensive.

This episode includes one of the stand-out lines of the original Season 4 trailer, where Summer asks Rick if he is going to “slay” the dragon.

“First off, I always slay it, queen,” he said. “Secondly, yes.”

Fans were split over this piece of dialogue, with some thinking it was incongruous to Rick’s character and “cringy,” while others thought it was the best catchphrase from the scientist yet.

Either way, it hints at another thread connecting Rick and Summer, whose bond has grown by leaps and bounds over the course of the series. Many fans are hoping for some more Rick and Summer adventures in the near future, and given the absence of Morty from this preview, we may be getting one this week.

Rick and Morty Season 4 is one of the most highly-anticipated shows of this year. Already, we have gotten three episodes that fans are in love with, and there are two more on the way before the midseason break.

This is just the beginning, as Rick and Morty was renewed with a 70-episode order last year. That means years of new installments to come, and according to the Harmontown podcast, the writers are hard at work, meaning they are either finishing Season 4 or working on the next batch.

By then, the show will have even better placement, as it is included in the roster for WarnerMedia’s new streaming service HBO Max. Launching in May, the service gathers the company’s strongest intellectual property under one roof, and there is no question that Rick and Morty is in that category now.

Rick and Morty Season 4, Episode 4, “Claw and Hoarder: Special Ricktim’s Morty” premieres on Sunday, Dec. 8 at 11:30 p.m. ET on Adult Swim.