All across the interwebs, "Rick and Morty" is what has been discussed a lot over the past few days. It's not like this show hasn’t gotten the attention of fanatics and the uninitiated alike -- through the various antics associated with the show, its co-creators, and the show's wackadoo fandom -- over incidents such as the Szechuan sauce furor, Dan Harmon’s alcoholism and sexual misconduct with a co-worker, rumors of Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon’s disagreement over things (which led to the season three delay), and so on.
But what of season four? What is causing the delay?
Laying the cards out
The reasons behind the "Rick and Morty" delay were revealed by Dan Harmon in a Tweet back in March of this year. Harmon cited a number of things, including Cartoon Network/Adult Swim not ordering new episodes. This led fans to believe that the show --which was rumored to have a late 2019 release -- would be delayed further. While the fandom at large is certainly willing to wait, this left many in the community feeling dejected and sad.
Justin time
The show's co-creator -- Justin Roiland -- came to the rescue, taking to Twitter with what could be the most satisfying news so far.
His tweet -- which stated that "Rick and Morty" would have 70 all-new episodes -- was not only a massive surprise, but a huge relief. Not only will the show go on for years to come, but the news also indicated that writing and animation for the fourth season was underway.
Syndiculous
The Reddit community took things up a notch, as usual, discussing, dissecting, and breaking things down to ascertain and interpret the recent news in their own way. It is obvious that the show has had a cult following for quite some time now, and it is growing by the day. Some fans have posited that Dan’s tweet about season 4 not being ordered was just a publicity stunt, either way, though, most fans are simply grateful that new episodes have been confirmed.
It's possible that the co-creators wanted to strike a deal for 70 episodes, or wait for a more opportune moment. To look at things a little closer, "Rick and Morty" spanning over three seasons has a total of 31 episodes. 70 more episodes would make the total 101. Syndication requires at least 100 episodes. It only makes sense that the co-creators would want to shoot for syndication. Also, 70 more episodes certainly doesn't hurt. Heck, even Kanye West is with them. All we have to do is sit tight and wait -- and try to contain our excitement in the meantime.