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President Curtis co-creator Dan Harmon has confirmed that the new spinoff retcons the title protagonist in a key way from how he’s been depicted on Rick & Morty for more than a decade.
Keith David’s Andre Curtis debuted in the latter series’ season 2 episode “Get Schwifty.” 11 years later, not only does he rank among Rick & Morty’s best characters, he’s now scored his own TV show. However, the President Curtis team decided it was necessary to tweak the commander-in-chief’s characterization for President Curtis in order to make him a more compelling protagonist.
In an interview with ScreenRant's Ash Crossan for President Curtis, Harmon, who co-created the X-Files-influenced spinoff with James Siciliano, noted how Curtis’ “emotional loneliness” and “his history with his ex-wife” are among the new aspects of the character being presented that weren’t touched upon in Rick & Morty. Harmon then noted how Curtis’ political corruption is no more, explaining:
I think one thing that we’ve retconned about him so that he could be suitable to anchor a show is that we stripped out the implication, per the Rick and Morty universe, that Curtis is the kind of politician so intent on keeping his job that he would gladly cheat democracy—i.e., being a numbers guy instead of actually just doing his job and accepting if he gets fired for doing that job.
There are a handful of Rick & Morty episodes that certainly paint Curtis in a more antagonistic light. For example, he arranges in season 6’s “Juricksic Mort” for Rick Sanchez to host the Oscars in exchange for the mad scientist getting rid of the technologically advanced dinosaurs on Earth. As another example, in season 7’s “Air Force Wong,” Curtis takes control of the hive mind in Virginia to achieve a 100% approval rating across the world, only to have that connection severed by Rick, Dr. Wong, and the Unity hive mind.
So, for President Curtis, steps were taken to ensure he doesn’t come off as unscrupulous, given that he's now the hero in this corner of the Rick & Morty universe. This new series follows Jim Rash’s Special Agent O’Doyle and his chief of staff, Stephanie Beatriz’s Banks, battling extraterrestrial, paranormal, and interdimensional threats that Rick can’t be bothered to handle himself. Dan Bakkedahl and Kelsey Scott have also been cast in undisclosed roles.
Like the majority of Rick & Morty seasons, President Curtis season 1 will consist of 10 episodes airing weekly. It hasn’t been determined yet if season 2 will happen, but Siciliano informed ScreenRant“it’d be nice” to keep President Curtis going after building season 1 to be “lightly serialized.” This is the third Rick & Morty spinoff, following the Vindicators 2: Last Stand Between Earth and Doom web series in 2022, followed by Rick & Morty: The Anime in 2024.
President Curtis premieres Sunday, July 26 at 11:30 p.m. ET on Adult Swim, right after the Rick & Morty season 9 finale. New episodes will be available to stream the day after their original airing on HBO Max.
