The 10th and final episode of the current top-rated cartoon "Rick and Morty" will air on Sunday, Oct. 1 despite the show usually running 14 episodes per season. Its co-creator explained the short season is because of perfectionist goals.
"I mostly blame myself for doing 10 instead of 14. I'm still learning how to do the show efficiently while catering to the perfectionist in all of us," show co-creator Dan Harmon said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly.
Harmon, who also created the American sitcom "Community," recalled how he was fired prior to the fourth season after he "fell apart."
According to him, some episodes of the series were below standard. In "Rick and Morty," the episode closest to being low quality was the ninth episode of season 2, titled "Who's Purging Now."
Although the episode was "fun and great," Harmon could not help but feel that it was not good enough.
The creator implied that he would rather cut the episodes into 10 quality pieces rather than add four not-so-good ones.
This issue has fans heartbroken as Harmon initially declared during a Magic City Comic Con panel last December 2016 that the third season would be composed of 14 episodes.
However, on June 29, in a "Rick and Morty" special live stream event, Harmon, who was with co-creator Justin Roiland, retracted his statement and said there would only be 10 episodes.
Nevertheless, the director wants to show that he has learned from his mistakes in season 3 and wants to assert that the fourth one will surely make it to 14 episodes.
"Now I'm about to do season 4 of 'Rick and Morty' and want to prove that I've grown," he said.
He said his co-workers might not believe in him anymore since he was the guy who initially pushed for 14 episodes and failed. He rebutted this idea with a positive outlook for the next season.
"The nice healthy way to approach this is I want to prove it with the first 10 of season 4 — prove it to ourselves, to production, to the network — that it's so easy that we'll earn additional episodes," Harmon said.
"Rick and Morty" season 4 has no premiere date yet as of press time.
