Jessica Gao, the head writer the Marvel series She-Hulk, is no stranger to comedy or developing banging TV series. Having won an Emmy for her work on the animated series Rick and Morty, Gao has a well of experience, and it turns out that the beloved meme-tastic adventures of Rick Sanchez has influenced her work with Disney Plus.
During a press roundtable for She-Hulk, which The Digital Fix attended, Gao explained how Rick and Morty taught her a valuable lesson when she was tasked with developing the hilarious adventures of the lawyer Jen aka She-Hulk, for the new Disney Plus series. “The thing that I learned from the Rick and Morty writer’s room is to not settle for the first idea or the second idea or even honestly the fifth idea,” Gao explained.
“What I really learned from that room was to constantly push past the first instinctive kind of way that you would do a story because when you work in sitcoms for a very long time, when you write for television comedies, you start to fall into this rhythm.”
“Because there is a rhythm and formula and kind of a math equation to doing TV comedy, it starts becoming very comfortable and very well-trodden,” she continued. “And what was nice about Rick and Morty was that it really, really taught me to push past all of that, push past the comfort zone and go even further. And I think that really helped with this project.”
Looking towards Rick and Morty for inspiration isn’t a bad idea, given the show’s success. Since debuting in 2013, the series has taken the world by storm, be that in the form of animated pickles or Szechuan sauce. Rick and Morty season 6 is also on its way, so it’s understandable why Gao would look towards the show, as it seems to have cracked the formula for long-term quality.
She-Hulk currently holds an 83% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. While there is still no word on a potential She-Hulk season 2, Mark Ruffalo revealed that we may see the character again in the upcoming Marvel movie, Avengers 5. So, if you ask me, it sounds like the Rick and Morty strategy paid off.
Fans can catch She-Hulk’s small screen debut now, as the sci-fi series is available to stream on Disney Plus.