As the new season of Rick and Morty unleashes around the world, fans have turned out in droves to celebrate Adult Swim’s Emmy® Award-winning animated comedy.
Debuting in 112 countries in 38 languages, Rick and Morty season six captured substantial international viewership. Rick and Morty has continued to grow in the US since season six’s premiere early this month. After only three days, the first episode of Rick and Morty saw a 57% growth in delivery, bringing its overall delivery to 1 033 000 viewers. Rick and Morty is also the best-performing animated show on HBO Max in Europe since the platform launched. And in the top 10 best-performing series on HBO Max in Europe in 2022. HBO Max in Latin America reported a Rick and Morty viewership growth of over 500% in the week following the debut of the season six premiere episode on the service.
Monday, 12 September, marked the conclusion of the global Rick and Morty #WORMAGEDDON immersive fan experience, which galvanised fans both online and in-person to partake in a special 'living episode' of their favourite show leading up to the season six premiere. Since the first build was revealed in Mexico City on 20 August, over 100 000 fans showed up in person to one or more of the 14 unique scenes spotted on six continents.
Watch the reveal of the South African immersive build here.
“It’s so satisfying to see people around the world showing up, literally in person this time, for this new season of Rick and Morty,” said Michael Ouweleen, president of Adult Swim and Cartoon Network. “It speaks volumes about the talent and care that go into making this amazing series.”
With some fans travelling to multiple countries to visit different unique builds and nine lucky fans winning the treasure hunt to receive a coveted life-size, golden ‘Rick’ head, #WORMAGEDDON reached Rick and Morty fans in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, the Netherlands, the Philippines, South Africa, Spain, the United Kingdom and several cities in the United States.
Rick and Morty fan, Henning Gawrisch from Muizenberg, walked away with a golden Rick head.
The sixth Wormageddon scene appeared in South Africa. It featured the Rick and Morty character, Tiny Rick, chilling out and eating ice cream with one of the worms at the Muizenberg Beach Huts in Cape Town. The first clue for South Africa was released on Friday, 26 August, at 4pm. Only 20 minutes later, Henning Gawrisch from Muizenberg was lucky to get to the location first, say the code word, and win the golden ‘Rick’ head. The immersive build on Muizenberg beach was a special partnership with the Beach Hut Trust. The site was visited by close to 3 500 visitors.
The Beach Hut Trust was established to promote, protect and preserve the Beach Huts of Cape Town. A public and private partnership that recognises the Beach Huts as arguably South Africa’s most iconic structures and the value that has to tourism and job creation. “Partnering with Rick and Morty and the Adult Swim team was an incredible opportunity for us to promote our city and country to a huge audience around the world,” says Daniel Blaauw, Trustee of the Beach Hut Trust. “Their generous sponsorship of our campaign has proven that the Beach Huts hold value not only for us but to a vast international audience. The partnership created employment and will help sustain our initiative as we grow and create more opportunities.”
Additionally, fans at home could follow along with the global adventure via a series of custom animated shorts about the origins of #WORMAGEDDON including A Citadel Secret, A Journey to Earth, Threat Level: Wormageddon, and Wormageddon: Final Showdown, alongside original videos featuring each build. The original #WORMAGEDDON video content has received over 75 million global views and counting. Several million views came from South Africa alone in partnership with five Cape Town-based social media content creators. Notable highlights from content created in South Africa include a version of the iconic Rick and Morty 'Let Me Out' song by Hanna Kuruneri and Liam Stoffberg’s hilarious take on the #WORMAGEDDON campaign. Watch the key moments of the global campaign here.
“It’s absolutely electrifying to witness the Rick and Morty fan community from different countries around the world coming together to celebrate this series,” said Tricia Melton, chief marketing officer for Warner Bros. Discovery Kids, Young Adults and Classics group. “We knew the power of the Rick and Morty fandom, but it’s still nothing short of astounding to find how many fans took the time to visit one of our 14 custom builds in person or to follow the adventure online.”
New episodes of season 6 continue to premiere throughout September in southern Africa on Mondays on Netflix, only 24 hours after the US premiere.
