Adult Swim released a Rick and Morty Season 7 trailer that sets up some of the wild antics its title characters will get up to when it premieres next month, but it also included some pretty clear references to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
As pointed out by Polygon, the Season 7 trailer has a few blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moments that call back to Nintendo’s famous fantasy world. Specifically, just 15 seconds into the trailer, as Motorhead’s “Ace of Spades” blares in the background, Rick and Morty can be seen running from blue explosives as they slide their way under a closing shrine door. The moment takes up just around two seconds of screen time, so you’d be forgiven for missing the Sheikah eye symbol on top of the shrine door. There’s also the giant maze structure in the background of the entrance, which is almost certainly one of the same labyrinth puzzle areas players might have come across in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
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There’s really no ignoring it: These seem to be the exact same kinds of structures and icons seen in Nintendo’s open-world take on The Legend of Zelda series. Even the blue explosions Rick and Morty find themselves narrowly escaping could be some of Link’s bombs or the results of a Sheikah trap. We also get a brief look inside the building, which includes more blue lighting, familiar structures, and a bit of language that looks very similar to Sheikah text. You can see two relevant screenshots from the Rick and Morty season 7 trailer below.
Rick and Morty are notorious for their interdimensional travels, but the two haven’t ever visited Hyrule. Anything is possible, however, as the show has absolutely dabbled in its fair share of pop-culture references. For all we know, season 7 will feature an episode where Rick wields the Master Sword to save Hyrule from Ganondorf. Whether or not the show will feature a direct, official tie to The Legend of Zelda remains to be confirmed, but Polygon did receive a short message from Adult Swim: “we can’t confirm anything, but they’re free to speculate and readers can tune in to find out!”
Rick and Morty viewers may have missed The Legend of Zelda reference because they were too interested to hear its star character’s new voices after Adult Swim cut ties with co-creator Justin Roiland earlier this year. Roiland, who had been lending his voice as the show’s title characters, was faced with accusations of false imprisonment and domestic battery at the time. In his place are some very convincing replacements who have yet to be named.
Rick and Morty season 7 drops October 15. Hopefully, we’ll more about its new voices and its references to The Legend of Zelda then.
