One of the creators of President Curtis just compared the upcoming Rick & Morty spinoff to the iconic sci-fi series The X-Files.
President Andre Curtis has been a recurring character on Rick & Morty, and now he’s about to get his own show, which premieres July 26. Keith David, who has appeared in everything from Armageddon and There’s Something About Mary to Community and Hazbin Hotel, voiced the character on Rick & Morty and will be reprising the role on President Curtis.
In an interview with ScreenRant‘s Ash Crossan for President Curtis, James Siciliano, who co-created the series with Rick & Morty‘s Dan Harmon, revealed that the idea for this show came about “organically” while having discussions with the team over the years.
If he had gone with a spinoff about Mr. Poopybutthole or Birdperson, it might feel too similar to Rick & Morty. “I feel like the Venn diagram would be pretty huge in overlap between the shows,” he explained.
In other words, the creative team behind Rick & Morty shouldn’t feel like they need to create a spinoff for a character like Birdperson if there’s not enough of a story there, when the original series could easily do a single episode centered around the character instead.
However, by creating the spinoff President Curtis, he and Harmon are able to lean into the workplace comedy genre while having their own version of The X-Files, something that’s “more dialed-in and terrestrial.”
Unlike characters like Birdperson, when it came to Curtis, Siciliano felt like there was a larger story to tell that wasn’t featured in the original series. “This was the first one where we felt like we might have something bigger,” the co-creator added.
“This one came kind of organically from just talking about the character in the episode five years ago.
“I think, in general, if you talk about Mr. Poopybutthole or Birdperson or any of these other characters, by their nature, they are so sci-fi and so weird to begin with that, if you spun them off, I feel like the Venn diagram would be pretty huge in overlap between the shows.
“Whereas this can be a workplace comedy that’s more X-Files, more dialed-in and terrestrial. Typically, any conversations about building out characters wound up being like, ‘Oh, well, we could do a Birdperson episode.’ I think it wound up becoming the basis for a bigger story in Rick and Morty. This was the first one where we felt like we might have something bigger.”
Premiering in 2013, Rick & Morty centers on the titular characters, scientist Rick Sanchez and grandson Morty Smith, as they go off on adventures across dimensions, realities and planets. The voice cast includes Justin Roiland, Ian Cardoni, Harry Belden, Chris Parnell, Spencer Grammer and Sarah Chalke.
After earning overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics and winning at the Emmys, Critics’ Choice Television Awards and Annie Awards over the years, Rick & Morty season 9 is currently airing and will wrap on July 26, the same night that President Curtis premieres.
Joining David as co-stars on President Curtis are Stephanie Beatriz, Jim Rash, Dan Bakkedahl and Kelsey Scott. Aside from being the creators, Harmon and Siciliano are also executive producers with Danielle Uhlarik, Monica Mitchell and Steve Levy.
After appearing in several episodes of Rick & Morty, the upcoming spinoff will see President Curtis confront issues and emergencies that Rick Sanchez ignored, like paranormal cases, unexplained phenomena and interdimensional diplomacy.
Those first two points are what generate comparisons between President Curtis and The X-Files, as Siciliano noted. The X-Files aired for 11 seasons and released two theatrical films from 1994 to 2018. David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson starred as FBI Agents tasked with investigating extraterrestrial and paranormal phenomena.
Black Panther and Sinners‘ Ryan Coogler is currently working on an X-Files reboot for Hulu. He recently finished filming the pilot and is awaiting word on whether the Disney-owned streamer will officially greenlight the series.
Until a decision is made on that front, sci-fi fans can check out President Curtis this summer and see for themselves how similar the Rick & Morty spinoff is to The X-Files.
President Curtis premieres Sunday, July 26 at 11:30 p.m. EDT on Adult Swim (and the next day on HBO Max).
