"Rick and Morty forever, a hundred years Rick and Morty!"
Remember that scene? It’s the very first episode. Rick Sanchez, covered in interdimensional spillover and clearly losing his mind, pins his grandson to the floor. He’s screaming about adventures. He’s screaming about 100 years. At the time, back in 2013, we all thought it was just Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon poking fun at the chaotic nature of pilot episodes. It felt like a parody of those "we’re going to be on the air forever" tropes.
But things changed. Rick Morty 100 years isn’t just a meme anymore; it’s basically a business contract.
Most people don't realize how literal that rant became. In 2018, Adult Swim did something basically unheard of in the world of cable television. They didn't just renew the show for a season or two. They ordered 70 episodes all at once. That brought the total count to 101. It was a massive gamble that turned a manic improvised bit into a roadmap for a decade of television.
The 70-Episode Deal and the Reality of Rick Morty 100 Years
When the news broke about the massive renewal, the internet kind of melted. 70 episodes? That's insane. For a show that famously took years-long breaks between its early seasons, this was a promise of stability. It was also a curse.
Think about the pressure. How do you maintain the "anything can happen" energy of a show when you know you have 60 more episodes to fill? The writers' room shifted. We saw a transition from purely episodic chaos to a heavy, sometimes begrudging, focus on "Canon." Fans started demanding answers about Evil Morty and Rick’s dead wife, Diane. The Rick Morty 100 years mantra stopped being a joke about freedom and started being a deadline.
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The show has changed. It had to. You can't sustain that level of nihilistic screaming for a century—at least not in show years—without evolving the characters. Rick actually goes to therapy now. He’s still a jerk, sure. But he’s a jerk who understands why he’s a jerk.
Why the Fanbase Obsesses Over the Timeline
The "hundred years" thing became a bit of a prophecy. Fans started looking for clues. Is Rick actually a version of Morty from 100 years in the future? (Probably not, that theory is kinda tired). Is the show actually going to run until 2113?
The reality is more grounded. Dan Harmon has often spoken about the "Story Circle." It’s his framework for narrative. Every episode follows a loop: a character is in a zone of comfort, they want something, they enter an unfamiliar situation, they adapt, they get what they wanted, they pay a heavy price, and they return to their comfort zone having changed.
If you apply that to the Rick Morty 100 years concept, the "return to comfort" becomes the hardest part. The show has to stay the same to satisfy the brand, but it has to change to stay relevant. It’s a paradox.
The Voice Actor Pivot
We can't talk about the longevity of the show without mentioning the elephant in the room: the 2023 recast. When Justin Roiland was removed following legal allegations and reports of workplace issues, many thought the "100 years" was over. It felt like the heart of the show—the literal voices of the protagonists—was gone.
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Then Season 7 dropped.
Ian Cardoni and Harry Belden stepped in. Honestly? Most casual viewers didn't even notice. The transition proved that Rick and Morty had become something bigger than its creators. It’s an institution. It’s a machine. Like The Simpsons or South Park, it’s now a piece of IP designed to outlive the specific circumstances of its birth. That is the true essence of Rick Morty 100 years. It’s the shift from a "creator-driven cult hit" to "permanent cultural fixture."
Breaking Down the "100 Years" Lore Misconceptions
There’s this weird idea that Rick is immortal because of the "100 years" line. He isn't. We've seen him die. A lot.
- Operation Phoenix: This was the backup plan where Rick's consciousness would be uploaded into a clone. He scrapped it because he didn't want to live as a teenage version of himself, or a shrimp, or a fascist shrimp.
- The Citadel of Ricks: This was the ultimate expression of the 100-year goal. Thousands of Ricks, all co-existing in a bureaucratic nightmare. It showed that "forever" is actually pretty boring and kind of fascist.
- The Central Finite Curve: This was the wall Rick built around the multiverse to ensure he was always the smartest person in the room. When Evil Morty broke it, the stakes changed.
The "100 years" isn't about Rick living forever. It’s about the cycle of trauma and adventure that he’s trapped his family in. When he says it, he’s not making a promise; he’s issuing a sentence.
The Business of "Forever"
Adult Swim (and Warner Bros. Discovery) loves this show for a very simple reason: money. Merchandise, spin-offs like The Vindicators, and the Rick and Morty: The Anime series are all part of the "100 years" ecosystem.
The show is a top performer on streaming platforms globally. It hits a specific demographic that advertisers crave. It’s cynical, smart, and highly rewatchable. Because the show relies so heavily on high-concept sci-fi, it doesn't age as quickly as sitcoms that rely on topical political jokes. A joke about a "Plumbus" is just as funny in 2026 as it was in 2015 because it's nonsense. Nonsense is evergreen.
Is 100 Years Actually Sustainable?
Let's be real. Can a show actually stay good for 100 years? No. Probably not.
Even The Simpsons is widely considered to have a "Golden Age" (Seasons 3-9) followed by a long plateau. Rick and Morty is already showing signs of this. Some episodes are absolute masterpieces of genre-bending writing—like "The Old Man and the Seat" or "Rickmurai Jack." Others feel like the writers are just messing around with tropes because they have 70 episodes to fill.
The challenge for the next few years will be avoiding the "Flandarization" of the characters. This is where a character's single trait (like Rick's cynicism or Morty's whining) becomes their entire personality. To get to the Rick Morty 100 years mark, the show needs to keep letting the characters grow, even if that growth makes them less "funny" in the traditional sense.
What's Next for the Duo?
We are currently deep into that 70-episode order. The production has stabilized. The "drama" behind the scenes has largely quieted down. Now, it’s just about the work.
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Expect more experimental episodes. Expect more deep-lore dives that answer questions we didn't know we had. But also expect more "filler." That's the trade-off. To get the high-highs of a show that runs for a century, you have to sit through the episodes where they just talk to a sentient planet or fight a bunch of literal "Number Twos."
If you’re a fan, the best way to approach the Rick Morty 100 years era is to stop worrying about the "Grand Narrative." The show is at its best when it’s a sandbox for weird ideas. Don't look for the "Solution" to Rick. There isn't one. The point is the struggle.
Actionable Insights for Fans and Creators
If you are tracking the progress of the show or looking to dive back in, here is how to navigate the "100 Years" era:
- Don't binge everything at once. The newer seasons are designed with more breathing room. Watching ten episodes of Rick’s nihilism in one sitting is a recipe for a bad mood. Treat it like the episodic anthology it often tries to be.
- Watch the "Vat of Acid" episode if you want to see the peak of the new writing era. It’s the perfect blend of Rick’s pettiness and the show’s sci-fi ingenuity.
- Pay attention to the background. The "100 years" lore is often hidden in the art design. The Citadel scenes, in particular, are packed with references to previous episodes that hint at where the series is going.
- Acknowledge the shift in tone. The show is less "improvisational" now than it was in Season 1. Accept that it’s a more polished, scripted product. It’s different, but that’s the only way it survives.
- Keep an eye on the episode count. We are approaching the end of the original 70-episode block in the next couple of years. The next renewal will be the real test of whether the 100-year dream is actually feasible or if the creators will finally want to move on to something else.
The legacy of the show isn't just the jokes. It's the fact that a weird, gross, loud cartoon about a drunk scientist managed to convince a major network to give them a blank check. That, in itself, is the greatest adventure Rick ever pulled off.