Rick and Morty co-creator Dan Harmon clarifies season 3 delay

Adult Swim

The wait for Rick and Morty's long-delayed season 3 has been maddening, to say the least. It didn't help, either, that AdultSwim Rickrolled fans with a fake opener, but at least some got to see the premiere episode. To set fears of a possible "show-threatening issue" to rest, co-creator Dan Harmon explained on Twitter what's taking so long.

His "hungover thread" begins by stating he and co-creator Justin Roiland "are very regretful about the season taking way too long. I want to explain 'what happened' because it's way less dramatic than you might ever imagine."

"The truth in this case is so very boring" compared to the "intriguing/confusing/intense reason 4 delays" TV audiences are accustomed to reading about online, he explained. "I will put it to you as objectively as I can, though we aren't talking about an auto plant. The reason S3 took long is because it took long to write, because it was S3 of a show that we were scared to make worse than S2 or S1."

Harmon wrote it'd be false to pick just one problem in describing the delay. "If I say 'we overthought' someone else could say 'well, no, we thought the right amount,' it's like talking about religion or something," he wrote. "It feels I think, to writers, sacreligious and ineffective to open the creative process and poke and label."

He further urged fans to not "worry about the content, because, the reason overthought slows you down is, you just do way more versions of stuff than needed. You usually end up back where you started."

During an interview with IndieWire at the Sundance Film Festival in January, Harmon said he and Roiland "have fights all the time and then we have fights about why we're having fights."

He scaled back his comments in the thread, tweeting, "As I speak, more articles are coming out about me and Justin fighting. Because it's a less boring reason for a season to take long, and because I'm Dan Harmon, so it's a smart f—ing first guess, it just happens to be hilariously not true even in the slightest." Harmon here was likely referencing his feud with Chevy Chase that led to his ousting from Community at NBC. "If you do know of me at all you know that if Justin and I HAD ever fought, not only wouldn't we be able to keep it secret, we'd be all too eager to share it with you," he wrote.

Though Harmon noted it breaks his heart to "think of some kid reading one of these clickbait pieces" about creative strife, he's ultimately "flattered by it and thankful to you [the fans] and can't wait for you to see S3 and also JUSTIN IS A PIECE OF SH– I'M GOING TO FIST FIGHT."

Click below to read Harmon's full thread.

So, while we wait for a season 3 premiere date, we have a Rick and Morty coloring book, Alien: Covenant drinking promo, McFarlane toy sets, and Funko figures.