Rick & Morty: How Jessica’s Time God Powers Could Change Season 6

In Rick & Morty season 5, episode 1, Jessica became a Time God – but how could this impact Rick & Morty season 6? Jessica has always been a side character in the Adult Swim mega-hit series, which largely focuses on the two main characters’ adventures. Over the course of five seasons, the tone of the show changed from a mostly light satire of sci-fi television into a darker exploration of the family’s neuroses. The last season finally fleshed out Rick’s backstory, and added new layers to many characters, including Morty’s long-time crush, Jessica.

In Rick & Morty season 5, episode 1, “Mort Dinner Rick Andre,” Morty finally has a date with Jessica. However, things go south when Morty dabbles with aging wine in a dimension where time moves ahead decades for every minute spent on Earth. Jessica gets abducted through a portal to this dimension, and she is frozen in crystallized stasis for hundreds of years. After she’s rescued, Morty asks her if she has time to watch a movie, and Jessica makes it clear she is a different person now – more specifically, a Time God. She tells Morty they should just be friends, and promises him that although they missed this moment, there will be more.

The main way Jessica’s Time God powers will likely impact season 6 is by giving Jessica a bigger role in Rick & Morty. Until season 5, Jessica was nothing more than an object of desire for Morty, something she says herself after her trip through time: “Had I lived? Was I just the object in another story?” Jessica’s statement breaks the fourth wall and announces, through her enlightenment, that she will be playing a bigger part in the series, or at least escaping the confines of playing solely a potential love interest for Morty. And while many cartoons revert their characters to their original state before a life-altering experience, Rick & Morty is well known for doing exactly the opposite, as various storylines have had permanent consequences. When she says she saw “the life of time” and glimpsed “into the mind of God,” Jessica promises an important transformation that will no doubt come back for Rick & Morty season 6, potentially establishing her as a major villain or ally for the titular duo.

Jessica’s transformation can play out many ways in the new season. One question, for example, is would a Time God still go to school? Jessica’s character might have risen above the purpose of high school, and may return to the show in a completely different context, which would justify her asking, “Could I be more?” after realizing she was just a pawn in someone else’s story. Continuing the format of the show where Morty makes a small mistake with huge repercussions and Rick fixes it, Jessica could well appear in a scenario where she is wreaking havoc as a Time God, allowing Rick, Morty, and Jessica to further dissect and lampoon her previous role in the show thus far.

In Alex Firer’s comic Rick and Morty: Mr. Nimbus #1 (with art by Ryan Lee and Doug Garbark), Jessica is shown to be immune to the aging process and possessing the power of telepathic blasts. Indeed, Rick & Morty has been known to make the most out of a change to a character – for example, the arc in which it made Birdperson a cyborg –  so it wouldn’t come as a surprise if the next time Morty encounters Jessica, she’s utilizing all of her new powers. Of course, there is no limit to what Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon could make Jessica do in season 6. Given that Rick & Morty shows an infinity of timelines (and a multiverse explained in Rick’s tragic backstory in the season 5 finale), Time God Jessica can even potentially do multiple things at once in the new season, opening up a cavalcade of new story possibilities.

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