Rick And Morty Drops First Images Of Season 4

It’s been almost two full years since the third season of Adult Swim’s irreverent romp through the tropes of science fiction Rick And Morty. This interrim period saw the fans going fully ape – not out of anticipation for the next serving, but over a tie-in promotion with McDonald’s over a limited edition Szechuan sauce, a strange example of a show whipping up product placement out of thin air. Behind the scenes, there was some friction between the creators and the network, before they finally hammered out an unusually hefty deal for seventy more episodes. Then, earlier this year, they bluntly announced they’d be back in November.

Now, as the fourth season grinds ever closer, their official Twitter has released two preview images. One depicts Rick traipsing happily through a field of wheat, in much the same way as a certain outgoing Prime Minister:

The other depicts the cartoon scientist in argument with a pack of alien crocodiles, in much the same way as no current or previous Prime Ministers, at least to my knowledge:

These crocodilians somewhat resemble the half-crocodile half-robot Crocubot of the show’s definitely-not-The-Avengers team of gadabout superheroes The Vindicators – sadly no longer with us – so the obvious speculation here is that they’re Crocubot’s friends and/or relatives, out for revenge.

But there’s a more telling detail here in that both images depict Rick alone, even though the title of the show ends ‘…and Morty’. The third season ended with Rick’s relationship with the rest of the family on a somewhat fractious note, and this may be the direct consequence of that. This could either be a good or a bad sign, since the family-drama side of the show has never been as strong as what the show itself termed its main pillar of ‘high-concept sci-fi rigmarole’. Both, however, are far more robust and entertaining subject matter than the show giving publicity to McDonald’s restaurants.