Rick and Morty Movie Is Coming — But Should You Actually Care?
TL;DR: Warner Bros. confirmed a Rick and Morty feature film in early development with supervising director Jacob Hair attached to direct. Season 9 premieres May 24, 2026. The real question: can the franchise overcome its post-Roiland identity crisis and deliver something worth a theatrical release?
Thirteen years. That's how long Rick and Morty has been on the air, long enough to win an Emmy, spawn an empire of merchandise, and somehow survive the departure of its co-creator and original voice of both title characters. Now Warner Bros. is betting that the goodwill from a decade of dimension-hopping chaos is enough to carry the Adult Swim property onto the big screen.
Maybe it is. Maybe it isn't.
What Warner Bros. Has Actually Confirmed (And What It Hasn't)
Here's what we know without the hype. According to Deadline's report from May 19, 2026, Warner Bros. is in early development on a Rick and Morty feature film. Jacob Hair—who joined the series in 2019 and has served as supervising director across multiple seasons—is in talks to direct. Plot details are completely under wraps. No release date. No confirmed runtime. No streaming platform announced.
The show itself remains a going concern:
- Season 9 premieres Sunday, May 24, 2026, on Adult Swim
- The series has aired continuously since 2013, making it one of the longest-running adult animated shows in American cable history
- Ian Cardoni and Harry Belden now voice Rick and Morty respectively, following Justin Roiland's exit in 2023
- A spinoff series, President Curtis, starring Keith David, is separately in development for Adult Swim
Jacob Hair is not some outside hire brought in to collect a paycheck. He's been embedded in the show's production for seven years. That's the single most encouraging fact in this announcement.
The Roiland Problem Nobody Wants to Discuss
Here's what's striking about the movie announcement: it arrives without addressing the elephant in the room. Roiland co-created the show with Dan Harmon and voiced both title characters for a decade. His removal in 2023, following felony domestic violence charges that were ultimately dismissed, left a vocal and creative gap the show has worked hard to paper over.
Cardoni and Belden are capable voice actors. But anyone who's watched Season 7 back-to-back with Season 1 knows something fundamental has shifted. The characters sound different. The chemistry feels different. Rick's nihilism doesn't quite land the same way.
What's the studio essentially asking audiences to do? Invest in a theatrical Rick and Morty experience built around characters who now sound fundamentally different from the versions that made people fall in love with the show in the first place. The film will have to earn that loyalty back. It won't be handed out.
What Dan Harmon Says the Movie Will Be
Dan Harmon, the remaining co-creator, has been teasing a big-screen outing for years. Not vaguely, either. Harmon has publicly described the concept as "a super badass" feature-length episode, a quote that's been floating around since at least 2022. The framing matters here: he's not pitching a departure from the show's identity. He's pitching an oversized version of what the show already does.
That's reassuring or alarming depending on what you actually want from a Rick and Morty movie. If it's just a very long episode, even a great one, does it justify a theatrical release? Or does it become the kind of thing that would've landed on Max six months after a quiet theatrical window and done perfectly fine?
Most coverage frames this as a natural next step for the franchise. The more honest read: this is Warner Bros. running the same playbook that turned Bob's Burgers into a $32.9 million disappointment, hoping a different cartoon will somehow crack the code. Harmon's "super badass" pitch sounds less like cinematic ambition and more like a producer who knows the TV formula works and doesn't want to risk breaking it at feature scale. The language itself, "feature-length episode," tells you everything about how cautiously they're thinking.
The Box Office Question Nobody's Talking About
The adult animation theatrical market isn't forgiving. The Simpsons Movie (2007) grossed $527 million worldwide, but that was nineteen years ago, before streaming fragmented audiences and before every IP holder decided their TV show deserved a cinema outing. Bob's Burgers: The Movie (2022) earned $32.9 million globally against a $38 million budget, and that film had the advantage of a cast audiences already loved in their original voices, not replacements they were still adjusting to.
Rick and Morty arrives with an additional complication beyond voice casting. The adult animation theatrical window has shrunk. Audiences have learned they can wait for streaming. Studios know this and price accordingly.
A Rick and Morty film with multiverse visual demands and likely A-list voice cameos would reasonably cost $40–70 million to produce. That's a steep bet on a franchise that's currently rebuilding trust with its core audience. The math has to work, and I'm not sure it does yet.
Where Indian Audiences Can Watch Right Now (And Where the Movie Might Land)
Rick and Morty has a meaningful following in India, particularly among the 18–30 urban demographic that drives streaming consumption. Here's the current picture for Indian viewers, tracked by Movie OTT's where-to-watch database:
- Netflix India carries multiple seasons with English audio
- JioCinema has expanded its Adult Swim catalog in recent months
- No official Hindi, Tamil, or Telugu dub exists for the main series, which limits reach beyond English-comfortable audiences
- Season 9 availability for Indian streaming will likely follow within weeks of the Adult Swim US premiere, based on past rollout patterns
For the theatrical film (if Warner Bros. actually releases it theatrically, which is far from guaranteed given how quietly they handled Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom's India rollout), metro markets would be in scope. Dubbed versions in Hindi would significantly expand the addressable audience beyond the English-language core. Hard to say if that's a priority for a niche adult animation property, but the franchise has built genuine cult status in places like Mumbai and Bangalore.
What "Early Development" Actually Means (And When You Might See This Movie)
Early development means early development. This isn't greenlit. Hair isn't signed. No writer has been publicly attached. The announcement is essentially: "We're thinking about this seriously enough to talk to a director."
A notable step. But the road from "early development" to a finished theatrical release in adult animation typically runs three to five years minimum. Don't expect a trailer in 2027. A 2029 or 2030 release window is more realistic, assuming the project stays on track and doesn't get quietly shelved if Season 9 underperforms on Adult Swim.
Watch for three signals that this is real:
- A writer attachment announcement
- Movement on where the film will actually stream (Max, HBO Max, or a theatrical-to-streaming window)
- Whether Dan Harmon deepens his involvement beyond creative oversight
Those three things will tell you whether this is a genuine production or an announcement designed to generate press around a season premiere.
Should You Watch Rick and Morty Before the Movie Arrives?
Yes. But adjust your expectations.
Seasons 1 through 5 are essential television, genuinely inventive, genuinely funny, with enough emotional weight to justify the sci-fi chaos. The "Pickle Rick" episode that won the Emmy in 2018 deserved it. Seasons 6 onward get more complicated, and Seasons 7 and 8 with the new voice cast are good without reaching those early peaks.
Coming in cold? Start with Season 1. Check Movie OTT for the most current regional availability across India, the US, the UK, and Spain. The movie, when it eventually arrives, will make infinitely more sense if you've spent a few episodes with Rick's nihilism and Morty's anxiety. The show rewards familiarity, and honestly, if you're going to drop $15 on a theatrical ticket, you might as well know what you're walking into.
We shall see whether Warner Bros. actually builds something worth watching on the big screen. The ingredients are there. The trust isn't.
Sources
- Deadline — Rick And Morty Movie In Early Development At Warner Bros.; Jacob Hair In Talks To Direct
- Box Office Mojo — The Simpsons Movie (2007)
- The Numbers — Bob's Burgers: The Movie (2022)
