Ever since Rick and Morty debuted on Adult Swim, people have asked if Christopher Lloyd would ever play a live action version of Rick. It makes sense, since the wild-haired dimension hopping scientist bares more than a passing resemblance to Doc Brown from Back to the Future. Lloyd famously played Doc Brown in the film trilogy, and you can hear a hint of an impression in Justin Roiland’s voice for Rick. In fact, Rick and Morty came about from an animated parody of Back to the Future created by Roiland and Dan Harmon, called “The Real Adventures of Doc and Mharti.”
So naturally, it seemed only inevitable that Christopher Lloyd would become aware of the show, and maybe take part. Not only had he seen some of the show, but he watched even more to get into the role of Rick for three recently released live action promos. According to Paste Magazine, he admitted he felt that “Doc Brown and Rick Sanchez were like two brothers who took very different paths in life.”
Those are the three shorts Lloyd starred in, alongside Jaeden Martell from Knives Out as Morty. You can tell Lloyd is having fun, and director Paul B. Cummings pretty much confirmed this when he said he told Lloyd to get a “little unhinged” for the “100 years” short. As you can see, the veteran actor just ran with it.
So will we see more live action Rick and Morty with Christopher Lloyd? Cummings definitely doesn’t rule it out, explaining that Lloyd and Martell shot a whole day’s worth of scenes together. He said Adult Swim picked the best three for the promos, but “fans may see more of these in the future.” And as Doc Brown says, “Your future is whatever you make it.” Who knew he was talking about playing a parody version of himself?