Rick and Morty (2013-) is a longstanding animated series from Adult Swim on Cartoon Network. The half-hour space comedy follows the interstellar adventures of Rick Sanchez, a mad scientist, and Morty, his grandson. The series was created by Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland, the latter voicing Rick and Morty until Season 6.
Rick Sanchez is a scientific genius who has mastered interdimensional travel and countless other breakthroughs, yet remains emotionally stunted, particularly with his daughter Beth (Sarah Chalke), a horse surgeon he abandoned decades earlier. Though most episodes follow his chaotic adventures with grandson Morty, the entire family eventually gets dragged into his cosmic escapades.
As one of the show’s two protagonists, Rick is charismatic yet deeply flawed. He oscillates between pushing people away with cutting sarcasm and numbing his pain with alcohol, making him a compelling antihero who has trouble connecting with his family and many other people who come into his life. Over time, he shows glimmers of growth: his sharp edges soften slightly, and he begins grappling with the consequences of his actions, both for his family (including daughter Summer and son-in-law Jerry) and the wider universe.
Regarding his bisexuality, we see that Rick had a deep love and attraction to his late wife, Diane, whose death contributed to his estrangement from his daughter. In Season 2, Episode 3, “Auto Erotic Assimilation”, we learn that Rick briefly dated a hive mind alien who assimilates entire planets. This entity, known as UNITY, often communicates through hosts she has assimilated of multiple genders, races, and different species. When Rick and UNITY reconnect and become lovers again, it becomes clear during their drunken reunion that Rick is attracted to UNITY and sexually engages with it regardless of the gender of the host, revealing and affirming Rick’s pansexuality.
Rick’s pansexuality was confirmed briefly and succinctly by creator Dan Harmon during an interview with The Guardian:
Rick is pansexual.
As Rick and Morty progresses, more members of the Smith family are revealed to be queer. In an episode called “Total Rickall”, a parasite that infiltrates the family by creating false memories creates a character named Sleepy Gary, with whom Jerry has an affair, and he shows real remorse when the parasite is killed. At another point in season 7, Beth becomes involved with a version of herself from another universe. It is also purported that Summer is queer or open-minded, but there is not as much concrete proof at the time of research to confirm this assertion.
While Rick is brilliant, funny, and astute, and it is great to see a bi Latino male in animation, his harshness and anti-hero qualities keep Rick and Morty from being great bi rep, but overall, it’s not terrible. Wub-a-lubba-dub-dub, indeed.