One of the most popular episodes from Season 3 of Rick and Morty is one that manages to parody both the Saw franchise and superhero movies at large. And now a web series spinoff from that episode is set to fill in the gaps of one of the show’s silliest jokes.
A Vindicators-based spin-off is in the works, which is welcome news for the show’s superfans who take in every video posted on the Adult Swim YouTube channel and break down what it means for the ever-expanding canon of the show. The web series is one of four Adult Swim announced earlier in the year based off its programming, including Your Pretty Face Is Going to Hell, Robot Chicken and Aqua Teen Hunger Force.
The team of superheroes, which Rick was technically a part of, first appeared in ‘Vindicators 3: The Return of Worldender,’ which sees the titular pair join up with The Vindicators to take down a dangerous foe.
According to co-creator Justin Roiland’s interview with The Wrap, picking the Vindicators for the spin-off was an easy decision because of how much backstory the characters left unsaid in their appearance.
“I can’t remember if it was the network that suggested it or if it was actually Erica [Rosbe] and Sarah [Carbiener], who wrote the [‘Vindicators 3: The Return of Worldender’] script in Season 3. But to me it was like, yeah that’s a really cool place to go for a spinoff, especially with how big Marvel is and the superhero genre in general is,” Roiland told TheWrap. “We had fun with the idea that the episode was the third Vindicators mission and that Rick and Morty had only been invited to one. So they’re like, ‘Wait a minute, you guys did one without us?’ And there is all this backstory to go into.”
Roiland said the series is expected to run about as long as an ordinary Rick and Morty episode, which makes sense since Vindicators 3 was wrapped up by the end of a single episode as well. And considering how that one ended, well, it also makes sense that in order to revisit those characters you’d have to go back in time a bit.
According to The Wrap, the 10-episode short series is expected to cover the previous gathering of The Vindicators, which happened without Rick and led to all the Saw-themed chaos in Vindicators 3. If you remember, after Rick’s first off-sreen appearance with The Vindicators, they “did one” without him that made him mad enough to take care of Worldender himself and create some more deadly chaos. And Roiland, who will executive produce the series, promised “it’s going to be pretty great.”
“But I don’t want to say too much right now just because I don’t know how much is going to change or how crazy it’s going to get,” Roiland says. “But I do know it’s really cool that we’re getting to do it.”
That does mean the series will likely feature little to no Rick or Morty, but it’s filling in an important piece of the show’s universe that also seems certain to give us more Crocubot. And maybe Worldender, too. So, hey, a win’s a win.
[via The Wrap]