13 Years Later, ‘President Curtis’ is Repeating ‘Rick and Morty’s Biggest Mistake

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Published Sep 20, 2026, 7:00 AM EDT

Let’s ease up on the leprechauns

Image: Adult Swim

On the Rick and Morty spin-off President Curtis last Sunday, we finally learned a bit more about O’Doyle’s mysterious past. Special Agent Francis O'Doyle (Jim Rash) is the top Secret Service agent guarding President Curtis (Keith David), and while we know he’s a half-leprechaun, most of the other details about his background have been kept quiet. That all changed in the episode “Knox,” when O’Doyle’s mom steals all the gold in Fort Knox and frames him for the crime. O’Doyle then goes on the run and, with help from the White House Chief of Staff Rho Banks (Stephanie Beatriz), works to clear his name.

Also, it sucked.

Just eight episodes into its 10-episode first season, I really think President Curtis has a lot of promise. Curtis is the one Rick and Morty character who can stand on his own two feet for a spin-off, as it makes sense the President would have his own stories to tell that don't constantly rely on Rick and Morty. Keith David is also a spectacular lead. And, for the most part, the show has differentiated itself from Rick and Morty by playing to its strengths, with stories that are deeply woven into American history, like the episode where Lincoln’s ghost tries to reclaim the presidency, or the one where Curtis fought the evil entity which resides at Camp David.

It occasionally falters, though, like the episode where Curtis and members of his administration venture into “Hollow Earth” and meet all sorts of weird creatures. That was a plotline that felt like a leftover idea from the Rick and Morty writers’ room which was then repurposed for President Curtis. But I’ll begrudge any show the occasional bad episode. The problem with this past Sunday’s episode, as well as another one from earlier this season, is that it’s repeating Rick and Morty’s worst mistake, except it's doing it even worse since it's with characters we don’t even care about yet.

Image: Adult Swim

Ever since Rick and Morty began, the writers seem to have been in a tug of war with themselves over whether the show is more episodic or serialized. Some seasons have gone heavy on stories about Rick’s background, the Rick and Morty multiverse, and the Citadel of Ricks, where thousands of Ricks and Mortys from across the multiverse reside. Those stories have been fun and the lore has been interesting, but a lot of the time it’s felt like too much of a good thing, leaving fans to lament the loss of the earlier seasons’ more standalone adventures. The show itself has even poked fun at this multiple times, with Rick and Morty saying they should be going on more “classic” adventures unrelated to the Citadel.

In recent seasons, this problem has mostly been solved. With the destruction of the Citadel in season 5, the subsequent seasons have felt much more balanced, with only two or three episodes per season going deep into the show’s mythos. Most episodes deliver standalone stories that don’t require you to remember much of the show’s lore.

Despite all the struggles Rick and Morty has had with its own lore, President Curtis has dedicated a significant amount of time building complex backstories for its new characters, particularly O’Doyle and Banks.

Image: Adult Swim

Apart from “Knox,” the episode “Ghosts” from earlier this season suffered from a similar problem. While the B story was that fantastic plotline about Lincoln's ghost, the A story was all about Banks’ origins as a cyborg. In order to get rid of the malware in her systems, she had to venture into her memory banks to confront some past demons. Like “Knox,” the story goes deep on world-building and mythos-building, while remaining frustratingly light on laughs.

This feels like a huge problem for a new show that’s still finding itself. While President Curtis is a strong leading character, the supporting characters have yet to prove themselves, especially when it comes to how funny they are (which is to say, not much at all). While Rick and Morty had its growing pains, its supporting players were still hilarious. Jerry’s status as a hapless loser made him the show’s perfect punching bag, while Summer’s snarky comebacks made her endlessly quotable. But Curtis doesn’t have a Jerry or a Summer — it doesn’t even have a Gene. The show really just has the three leads, and all the best stories and the biggest laughs have all come from Curtis.

Image: Adult Swim

Perhaps, someday, the President Curtis writers will find the funny in O’Doyle and Banks, but it hasn’t happened yet, which is why building all this complex lore around them has led to the debut season’s worst episodes. At least when Rick and Morty was building its mythology, it was doing it with Rick and Morty themselves. President Curtis has received some backstory development, like the stuff with his ex-wife, but so far, his staff is getting more attention than he is. (Or perhaps it just feels this way since those two characters are not all that entertaining.)

That said, I’d be fine with minimal mythology this go-around, even when it comes to the show’s titular character. President Curtis’ strengths lie with the here-and-now, and with the bizarre backstories of past U.S. presidents — like the secret son of JFK who lives on the Moon that we met in the show’s first episode. Let that stuff be the “lore” of President Curtis, not all this bunk about cyborgs and leprechauns. Because, while fans only somewhat tolerated all the myth-building in Rick and Morty, I fear this show isn’t strong enough to weather that storm. While the show has already been renewed for a second season, my hope is that there’s a lot fewer cyborgs and leprechauns and a lot more ghosts of dead presidents.