Solar Opposites is a promising new TV show on Hulu - but given that it was developed by Rick & Morty‘s co-creator, Justin Roiland, and ex-head writer, Mike McMahan, fans may be wondering why it didn’t end up on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim. Initially it was developed for The Fox Broadcasting Company, but the project was shelved for several years before Hulu ordered Solar Opposites to series in 2018, giving it a two-season, 16-episode start.
It remains to be seen whether Solar Opposites will live up to the standards set by Rick and Morty. Maybe Roiland and McMahan are hitting their stride, or perhaps they haven’t reached their full potential yet. There’s also the risk of dividing their creative juices between two shows, though Roiland has said that the process of writing and producing Solar Opposites is quicker than it is for Rick & Morty.
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Solar Opposites will be joined by other adult animated series accessible on the Hulu streaming service, including Rick and Morty (after its initial airing on Adult Swim), Family Guy, Bob’s Burgers, and South Park. The intellectual properties accumulated by Disney through the purchase of the 20th Century Fox, as well as its majority share of Hulu, will make it an increasingly formidable foe in the streaming market. Meanwhile, Cartoon Network’s parent company is Disney’s direct competitor, Warner Bros. – and by not pushing to pick up Solar Opposites as a companion to Rick & Morty, Cartoon Network may have missed out on another big hit. So, why is Solar Opposites not on Adult Swim?
Solar Opposites Was Stuck In Development Hell
Solar Opposites is a sci-fi comedy sitcom about an eccentric family of refugee aliens. They manage to escape their exploding planet and are forced to live in an undeveloped galaxy on a jerkwater planet called Earth – specifically, suburban middle-America. According to an interview with Animation Magazine, Roiland first came up with the idea for Solar Opposites way back in 2004, but didn’t start developing it properly with McMahan until 2015. Between Rick & Morty seasons 2 and 3 the pair were developing another show but found that it “felt really laborious,” and so went back to Solar Opposites instead.
After being shelved by Fox for several years, Solar Opposites was finally put into production. Roiland and McMahan had interest from Netflix and Syfy before Hulu finally stepped in to pick up the series, announcing the two-season order in 2018 – just a few months after Adult Swim announced its massive 70-episode order for more seasons of Rick & Morty. Given that Cartoon Network was demonstrably so invested in Roiland’s other show, Rick & Morty fans may be surprised that Solar Opposites won’t be joining it on Cartoon Network.
Why Solar Opposites Isn’t On Cartoon Network
One reason why Solar Opposites went straight to Hulu instead of ending up alongside Rick & Morty on Adult Swim may have been Roiland and McMahan’s desire to avoid censorship. Rick & Morty is censored very carefully in order to just barely avoid the parameters of a TV-MA rating (which is why it shows gruesome cartoon violence, but many swear swords are bleeped out). Streaming services aren’t subject to the same guidelines as traditional network and cable TV, so Roiland and McMahan may have actively sought out a streaming distributor in order to have more freedom.
Censorship rules aren’t the only reason why Solar Opposites ended up on Hulu instead of Adult Swim. McMahan told Animation Magazine, “Our initial pitch to Hulu always included a heavily serialized element, so there’s a big part of the show that’s always been designed to be binged.” This is in contrast to Rick & Morty, which does have a loose storyline and a status quo that shifts between seasons, but largely has episodes that each work as standalone stories. McMahan also said that “In any other time, this show couldn’t exist” and alluded to the creative freedom of working with the high ceiling of a TV-MA rating. It’s unclear whether Cartoon Network ever actually made a bid for the show at all; the 70-episode Rick & Morty renewal was a big financial investment, so the network may have wanted to avoid making another major commitment so soon.
What Solar Opposites Means For Rick & Morty
The association with Rick & Morty will almost certainly give Solar Opposites a boost in interest when it debuts on Hulu. The two shows share Roiland’s distinctive animation style, as well as his familiar voice (he plays Korvo), and casual fans may even mistakenly think that Solar Opposites is a Rick & Morty spinoff. With regards to a possible crossover between the two shows, Roiland said on THR‘s TV Top 5 podcast that he (unofficially) considers them to be connected:
“I like to think the shows take place in the same multiverse. I’ve been saying that though, that they take place in the same multiverse… Navigating those IP waters, those are two behemoths. We got Disney+ or Disney, and you have the HBO/AT&T/Time Warner behemoth. Those are very separate pools of water, I don’t know.”
The fact that Rick & Morty and Solar Opposites are both so similar may make some fans fans worried. It’s one thing for a writer to be working on two very different kinds of shows at the same time, but another to work on two shows that almost mirror each other (both being violent cartoon sci-fi comedy). Hopefully the upcoming second half of Rick & Morty season 4, and the debut season of Solar Opposites, will prove that they can coexist – even if they are in different places.
