The first footage fromRick and Mortyseason 8 might not give away much, but it does imply that the series could take another stab at parodying a famous sci-fi franchise. In its 11 years on the air,Rick and Mortyhas taken aim at almost every sci-fi series, trope, and cliché under the sun. The anarchic Adult Swim series began life as a ribald parody ofBack to the Future, and its first few episodes spoofedInception,Jurassic Park,Fantastic Voyage, and David Cronenberg’s entire oeuvre.Rick and Morty’s season 7 endingproved that this hasn’t changed since.
Rick & Morty: What The Actors Look Like In Real Life
Sci-fi comedy Rick and Morty is beloved largely thanks to the stellar vocal performances from its cast. Here’s what they look like in real life.
With a villain modeled onThe Twilight Zone’s host Rod Serling and a premise lifted from 2009’s underrated Joe Dante movieThe Hole, season 7, episode 10, “Fear No Mort,” wasRick and Morty’s highest-rated episode in years. As such, it is no surprise thatRick and Mortyseason 8seems set to mock another famous sci-fi series. An early animatic scene was released in October 2024 to help viewers through the lengthy wait for 2025’s upcoming season 8. In this brief clip, Rick and Morty board a spaceship filled with passengers who are frozen in cryo-sleep.
Rick and Morty Season 8’s First Teaser Seemingly Parodies The Alien Movies
Rick and Morty Hijack A Spaceship Full Of Passengers In Cryo-Sleep
Although the episode may end up spoofing something else entirely,Rick and Mortyseason 8’s early animatic tease looks like it sets up anAlienparody. 1986’sAliensbegan with the franchise’s heroine, Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley, waking up from cryo-sleep, as did its contentious sequelAlien 3. Similarly, 2017’sAlien: Covenantended with the surviving characters entering cryo-sleep as their story came to a close. Cryo-sleep is a staple of the series, with 2024’s franchise rebootAlien: Romulusalso featuring the sci-fi trope in its closing scenes. This makes the upcoming episode particularly promising.
Rick and Mortyparodies horror movies almost as much as the show spoofs sci-fi.
Between HR Giger’s iconic design work for the series and the Xenomorph’s outsized impact on creature design, theAlienmovies have helped to shape the modern sci-fi horror subgenre. As such, it is exciting to seeRick and Mortypotentially season 8 aim its earliest satirical jabs at the blockbuster franchise.Rick and Mortyparodies horror movies almost as much as the show spoofs sci-fi, despiteRick and Mortyhaving no Halloween episodesin its 7-season history. The show’s plentiful gore makes theAlienfranchise a perfect target for its satirical wit, something that has been evident for years.
Rick and Morty Has Parodied The Alien Movies Before
Season 4’s “Promortyus” Is An Underrated Rick and Morty Episode
As far back as season 2, episode 7, “Big Trouble in Little Sanchez,”Rick and Mortyslyly parodied theAlienmovies with Jerry’s perception of Beth. The meek Jerry imagined his wife as a monster that was clearly modeled on the Alien Queen fromAliens, while Beth saw Jerry as a subservient worm-like creature. This subplot culminated in a sequence that borrowed fromAliens, but this wasn’t the show’s only run-in with the famous franchise. In season 4, episode 7, “Promortyus,”Rick and Mortydevoted an entire episode to spoofing 2012’s divisiveAlienprequel,Prometheus, with another storyline.
Directed byAlien’s Ridley Scott,Prometheuspromised to explain the backstory of the Xenomorph and the Weyland-Yutani Corporation. However, the prequel instead ended up making the convoluted franchise’s story even more contradictory and complex. In contrast,Rick and Morty’s underrated “Promortyus”was an ingenious parody that mocked not only theAlienmovies, but alsoRick and Morty’s own well-worn formula. After Rick and Morty gleefully destroy an alien planet, they are embarrassed to realize that they accidentally left Summer there to presumably perish. When they return, they discover Summer is a god to the locals, while they are, understandably, widely reviled.
Rick and Morty Season 8’s Alien Parody Would Be Perfectly Timed
Ridley Scott’s Movie and Alien: Romulus Reignited Interest In The Series
“Promortyus” proved thatRick and Morty’s typical episode formula insulates its main characters from criticism, since viewers mostly see the show from their myopic perspective. This daring break from the formula was hilarious and clever, and it was facilitated by the episode spoofing Scott’sPrometheus. As such,there is no better time forRick and Mortyseason 8 to spoof theAlienmovies. Four years after “Promortyus” proved to be much more than a merePrometheusparody, season 8 will arrive just in time to capitalize on growing interest in the recently revived franchise.Alien: Romulusand its forthcoming follow-ups fueled this engagement.
Director Fede Alvarez’sAlien: Romulusbrought theAlienseries back to the big screen for the first time sinceAlien: Covenant, eschewing the complex lore of Scott’s sequels to offer a more straightforward, horror-centric story. SinceAlien: Romulus’s box office success, Scott hinted in a November 2024 interview withThe Hollywood Reporterthat he has ideas for another movie in the series. Meanwhile,FargoshowrunnerNoah Hawley’s upcomingAlienTV showAlien: Earthpromises to expand the franchise even further and makeRick and Morty’s upcoming spoof all the more relevant as it illustrates the Weyland-Yutani Corporation’s early backstory.
Rick and Morty Season 8’s Episode May Not Be An Alien Parody
Cryo-Sleep Also Appears In Other Sci-fi Franchises
As exciting and fortuitously timed as all this might appear, it is worth noting thatRick and Mortyseason 8’s first episode might not parody theAlienmovies. After all, the idea of cryo-sleep has appeared in plenty of other unrelated sci-fi movies, fromPassengerstoPandorum. There is a possibility thatRick and Mortyseason 8’s premiere will parody another sci-fi franchise entirely, or that its plot will be composed of a mélange of the genre’s clichés without a single specific inspiration. This would be a shame since anAlienparody would be perfectly timed in season 8.
Rick and Mortyseason 8 is expected to debut in 2025.
As theAlienfranchise grows in relevance, the timing ofRick and Morty’s season 8 parody couldn’t be better. Already,Rick and Mortyseason 7’s Stephen King-spoofing anthology episodesaw the show parodyMaximum Overdrive,Pet Sematary, and other horror media, reminding viewers just how well suited the show’s gory sense of humor is to tackling famous genre movies. SinceAlien: Romulus, Scott’s rumoredAlienmovie, andAlien: Earthare all contributing to the franchise’s current revival,Rick and Mortyshould strike while the iron is hot. As such,Rick and Morty’s season 8 tease needs to spoof the iconic series.
