Rick and Morty is set to grace the 2026 TV schedule with its ninth season on May 24th, and mayhem is sure to ensue. On top of that, the shows show's creative team usually finds fun and kooky ways to inject cultural references into the series. With that in mind, Season 9's episode titles riff on everything from iconic Kevin Costner movies to '90s Nickelodeon shows. Now, I'm even more excited about what's to come, and I'm wondering how these titles reflect the actual stories being told.
"Salute Your Morts" activated the card-carrying '90s kid dormant inside of me, and I almost immediately started singing "Camp Anawanna" to myself while watching co-creator Dan Harmon and the cast reveal the Rick and Morty episode titles on X. And, just for any skeptics who don't believe this is a nod to Salute Your Shorts (one of the best Nickelodeon shows of the '90s), check out this pic of Spencer Grammer dressed as camp counselor Kevin "Ug" Lee:
Then there's the Season 9 finale, "Field of Dreams," which is notable for more reasons beyond it sharing the same name as one of the best sports movies of all time. A collection of storyboards for each episode was posted to YouTube and, for that episode, I didn't see Kevin Costner or baseball. Instead, fans can see Morty roaming around on his own with a portal gun, which I'm sure Rick wouldn't normally allow.
I also need to shout out "Jer Bud," (a play on Air Bud), which seems to hint that Rick and Morty Season 9 will have a Jerry-centric episode. I loved last season's story centered on him and appreciated that sly One Piece reference that was slid in there. Check out the rest of the season's titles below, listed in order:
- "There's Something About Morty"
- "Ricks Days, Seven Nights"
- "Rick Fu Hustle"
- "A Ricker Runs Through It"
- "Jer Bud"
- "Erickerhead"
- "MortGully: The Last Rickforest"
- "Rickuiem Mort a Dream"
- "Salute Your Morts"
- "Field of Dreams"
As has been the case in the past, these Rick and Morty titles may or may not have something to do with the movies or shows they're creating puns for. As an example, "One Crew over the Crewcoo's Morty" had nothing to do with Jack Nicholson's One Who Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, but it was about Rick's distaste of heist movies.
Having said that, these unfinished animated sequences may hold clues to what each episode will be about. Check it out:
I won't lie, I'm a little sad that "Jer Bud" doesn't seem to be Jerry being in some Air Bud situation based on that snippet, but there's always much more to the episodes beyond that. Aside from that, though, I'm just ready to grab an HBO Max subscription and stream each and every one of these installments.
In the meantime, I'm just wishing I had a portal gun to hop to a universe in which Rick and Morty Season 9 is already out, because I'm so ready for the premiere. I'm also telling myself to accept that there won't be an interdimensional cable episode this year, but I'm sure I'll be speculating on it happening before the season is over. All that aside, here's to a (hopefully) great season filled with pop culture-referencing episodes!
