Rick and Morty fans have spotted a detail in the season six premiere that points to a heartbreaking piece of backstory.
The popular animated comedy, created by Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland, aired the first episode of its sixth season on Sunday (4 Septemevr), with an episode titled “Solaricks”.
Spoilers follow for the Rick and Morty season six premiere
Following on from the end of season five, the episode saw Rick Sanchez (voiced by Roiland) attempt to reset the co-ordinates for his portal gun, but he accidentally sends himself, Morty and Jerry back to their original universes.
As was confirmed last season, Rick’s original universe was a reality in which his wife, Diane, and daughter Beth had been killed – leading to some confusion when, after he arrives back in his original garage, we hear his wife’s voice coming from the other room.
It is quickly revealed that the voice is in fact an AI system built by Rick to “haunt” himself after his family’s death.
However, fans of the show took note of the actor voicing Diane: Kari Wahlgren.
Wahlgren voices a number of other characters on the series, including Morty’s longstanding romantic interest, Jessica. Significantly, she also provided the voice for several of Rick’s other AI systems in his usual reality, including the voice of the garage and his C-137 car.
While it may just be a coincidence, the casting of the same actor – and the fact she is performing with what appears to be the same voice – seems to suggest that Rick has, in fact, deliberately modelled his current systems on the voice of his late wife.
“Rick probably made his car AI sound like Diane on purpose,” one Reddit user theorised.
“Think it’s clear that this is part of him never letting go,” wrote another.
“I think it’s pretty significant that Diane has the same voice as all of his AI assistants,” someone else observed.
New episodes of Rick and Morty can be viewed on All 4 in the UK.
