‘Rick and Morty’ Promo Teases the Return of An Estranged Season One Side Character

In the next episode of Rick and Morty Season Eight, Morty’s son is officially and improbably returning to the canon — no, thankfully, it’s not Naruto.

Ever since the pilot episode of Rick and Morty, the 14-year-old libido of the Central Finite Curve’s resident sidekick has been a constant source of conflict, destruction and disgusting plot lines revolving around ethically questionable expressions of sexuality. Now, Morty’s natural horniness may be just that — natural — but the decidedly unnatural circumstances of his family life mean that Morty’s sperm cells have planet-destroying (and episode-ruining) potential.

One of Morty’s first misadventures with his own sex drive was also one of the tamest in the grand scheme of the canon, and, thankfully, Sunday’s new episode, “Morty Daddy,” is calling back to the Morty Jr. debacle rather than the incest one.

As Rick and Morty fans will remember from Season One, in “Raising Gazorpazorp,” Morty pesters Rick into purchasing a lifelike alien sex doll from an intergalactic pawn shop. Upon returning home, Morty immediately takes the doll up to his room for some uncomfortable simulated procreation. However, Morty soon finds that it wasn’t quite as “simulated” as he thought, and “Gwendolyn” has a hidden purpose as an android fertility surrogate from the planet Gazorpazorp, where the dominant species experiences sexual dimorphism that turns the women into enlightened, intelligent humanoids while the men are all dangerous, savage brutes.

With Rick indisposed on Gazorpazorp, Morty must raise his rapidly-maturing, human-Gazorpian-hybrid son Morty and attempt to parent out his mutant offspring’s homicidal tendencies. Morty lies to Morty Jr. by telling him that the air outside the Smith home is poisonous to quarantine the monster’s destruction, but upon learning of his father’s lies, Morty Jr. goes on a rampage throughout the neighborhood. After a heart-to-heart with his bad dad, Morty Jr. grows into a calm and articulate adult in just a few short days and channels his violent tendencies into a New York Times best-selling book about his “abusive” childhood, titled My Horrible Father.

A critical plot point from “Morty Daddy” was that male Gazorpians rapidly age, wreak havoc and lead short lives. Seven seasons and 11 years after Morty Jr. launched his book tour, it’s unclear how, exactly, he’s still alive — although, given that the Rick and Morty canon exists on a floating timeline, questioning the established biology of Gazorpians might be about as worthwhile as wondering why Morty is still 14.

Morty Jr.’s surprise phone call to his father could very well indicate that the author is finally dying of old age and looking to make amends — or, alternatively, plotting to take revenge. Morty’s going to pay for that push.