Rick and Morty: Taking a Trip Down Memory Lane with President Curtis

Posted in: Adult Swim, TV | Tagged: president curtis, rick and morty

Rick and Morty: Taking a Trip Down Memory Lane with President Curtis

Before the "Rick and Morty" spinoff hits on July 26th, Adult Swim has a look at President Curtis and his greatest (and not-so-great) moments.

Published Wed, 15 Jul 2026 14:37:09 -0500
by Ray Flook
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Article Summary

• Adult Swim spotlights Rick and Morty’s President Andre Curtis ahead of the July 26 debut of spinoff President Curtis.
• The Rick and Morty spinoff follows Curtis, Banks, and O’Doyle handling interdimensional and paranormal crises.
• Dan Harmon says President Curtis works as a Rick and Morty lead because his world expands Earth-bound X-Files-style stories.
• Harmon and James Siciliano confirm Rick and Morty appear in the premiere, while President Curtis builds its own identity.

In EPs Dan Harmon and James Siciliano's upcoming "Rick and Morty" spinoff, President Andre Curtis (Keith David) and his eccentric staff – Stephanie Beatriz's (Brooklyn Nine-Nine) Chief of Staff Banks and Jim Rash's (Community) Special Agent O'Doyle – tackle the kind of crises that Rick Sanchez could never be bothered with – from interdimensional diplomacy to paranormal investigations and unexplained phenomena. With President Curtis set to hit screens on July 26th, Adult Swim is offering a look back at some of the POTUS's best (and not-so-great) moments.

Here's a look at why President Andre Curtis was deserving of his own spinoff, followed by what Harmon and Siciliano shared recently regarding Adult Swim's President Curtis:

President Curtis EPs Talk Spinoff, Confirm Rick and Morty Appearance

With EPs President Curtis set to start hitting screens on July 26th, we're getting some interesting insights on Adult Swim's Rick and Morty spinoff from the show's creators. Checking in with Deadline Hollywood for an exclusive interview, Harmon and Siciliano discuss why President Curtis was a good choice for a spinoff, how the character differs from his previous appearance, and (officially confirmed) having Rick and Morty appear in the opener.

Harmon on Spotlighting President Andre Curtis: "It was because that was the character who could have their own self-contained world that wouldn't be redundantly overlapping. You can think of him as like a concentric circle: If we wanted Rick to do an X Files-level mission on Earth, like going to find the Hodag in Rhinelander, Wisconsin or the Loch Ness Monsters, he could do that, but his circle is broader. The comparison I make is it's like 'Doctor Who' and 'The X Files.' Both involve aliens, but you have a different perspective there. It allows the tonality to stay the same, but it's not redundant."

Siciliano & Harmon on How the Character Was "Adjusted" for the Spinoff Series:

Siciliano: "The one thing we 'retconned' and adjusted from the Rick and Morty character when we were building our guy out is that in Rick and Morty, he is very approval-driven and craves that. That was the first thing when talking about this show – it is almost the opposite. We wanted him to not be rolling his eyes at the job as part of his duty to protect people."

Harmon: "You go to TV for a little escapism, and the thing that drives us nuts about politics, whether we accept it or not, is that the numbers wag the dog. What do you have to say to win an election? We thought about it pretty hard, and what we needed to change about this guy is if you gave him a chance to have his numbers go up but in order to do it he had to lie or cheat, he wouldn't. He is only doing the job of president because if he doesn't, someone worse will.

"This is canonical stuff that will only be revealed if the show lives long in the tooth, but we know as writers that his ex-wife, who is not in the picture at the start, was the strategist. He is more like a golden retriever. When he walks into the room people say, 'I want to have a beer with him,' which is what gets you elected, but she was the more politically-motivated one. He is divorced from his Yoda. He is not a fraud like Remington Steele, where it was all sizzle, no steak, but it is not the job he would have chosen. He is a soldier and a vampire slayer, and he was a lonely guy who begrudgingly took on this role of serving hundreds of millions of people."

Siciliano & Harmon on Having Rick and Morty Appear in Series Opener: "It is one and done for this season. We wanted to address the elephant in the room of a spin-off, but we spent a lot of time building his own staff and world, and once you get into watching the goal is you feel it is its own show," Siciliano shared. Harmon added, "We didn't want to do too much out of the gate. We had no problem doing it – there was no impudence there, and it's not like we have to license the rights, so it was a matter of giving it space and letting it have its own identity, so that those paths crossing over will feel meaningful.

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