Jessica (Rick and Morty)

Jessica is a recurring fictional character in the American animated television series Rick and Morty and resulting franchise. Voiced by Kari Wahlgren and created by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon, loosely inspired by Jennifer Parker from Back to the Future, Jessica is the crush and later casual girlfriend of protagonist Morty Smith, who for the first four seasons of the series is oblivious to his feelings being partially reciprocated by Jessica. A social media-savvy student, in "Mort Dinner Rick Andre", Jessica is turned into a time god after spending millennia frozen in time within an alternate dimension where-in time passed faster. Known for her kind, inquisitive personality, the character has received a positive critical reception.

Alternate versions of Jessica from parallel universes appear throughout the series, and are featured as playable characters in the role-playing video game Pocket Mortys, as well as in several Oni Press comic book series.

Development
The character was created by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon, who first met at Channel 101 during the early 2000s, derived from Roiland's 2006 animated short film The Real Animated Adventures of Doc and Mharti, parodying Back to the Future; when the concept of Rick and Morty was brought up to Adult Swim, the ideas for an expanded supporting cast and Jessica being featured as a "will they, won't they" love interest for Morty Smith was introduced, depicted as having red hair due to Harmon's love of redheads, and loosely inspired by Jennifer Parker (portrayed by Claudia Wells and Elisabeth Shue), the films' love interest of Marty McFly (the inspiration for Morty). In 2020's Rick and Morty Character Guide, an Easter egg sees Jessica be given the initialized name "Jessica W." in reference to the surname of her voice actress: Kari Wahlgren; whether this surname is considered canon to the series' Jessica has yet to be confirmed. On the design of "Witch Jessica" in the 2020–2021 miniseries Rick and Morty: Ever After, the series' artist Sarah Stern described her as "the most enigmatic character in the book [who] needed a look [that was] both threatening and characteristically sylish [with] some fun forest-witch vibes [and] a black bodysuit strung with silver and bone", after the series' writer Sam Haggs had requested she be designed with "threatening but also step-on-me vibes".

Jessica is voiced by Kari Wahlgren in Rick and Morty and by Misa Ishii in both the Japanese dub of the series and Rick and Morty: The Anime.

Seasons 1–4
In the series' "Pilot", Jessica is introduced as Morty stares at her during their math class, saying her name instead of the class's chanted times tables, which she hears slightly, looking around confused. Later, when Rick crashes through a portal into the cafeteria with Morty, Jessica express interest in both the portal and getting to know Morty more, before Morty is taken away. In the first season episode "Rick Potion #9", a love potion given to Morty by Rick mutates with Jessica' common cold to lead to everyone at the school dance to become obsssed with Morty, a subsequent attempt by Rick at curing everyone leading to everyone in the world not related to Morty being turned into "Cronenberg" monsters, and Morty and Rick abandoning the reality, the Prime Dimension, for another one, Dimension C-131, where they fixed everything and their other selves had just died. C-131's Jessica makes her first formal appearance in the season finale "Ricksy Business", attending Rick's and Summer's party and the Smith family house while Beth and Jerry are out of town. Irritated by her boyfriend Brad, Jessica allows Morty to comfort her and he takes her on a tour of Rick's garage, showing her a map of the universe that fills the room and telling her of his adventures, before they are interrupted by Squanchy. Jessica is next seen in the post-credits scene of "The Ricks Must Be Crazy", back in shock when Morty transforms into a car, before returning in "Big Trouble in Little Sanchez", beginning talking with Morty again after "Tiny Rick" leads to his and Summer's social statuses rising.

Jessica next appears in "Rest and Ricklaxation", where after Jessica breaks up with Brad, Morty attempts to ask her out, only to be interrupted by Rick and dragged into an exhausting six-day adventure which leads both to decide to take a break and get "detoxified" at an alien spa, which splits Morty into two people, a Toxic Morty within the detoxifier and an insecurity-free Confident Morty outside of it. The detoxified Morty asks Jessica for a date, with his newfound confidence shuttering it in leaving her feeling he would "get bored with her", which the detoxified Morty takes in his stride. After the detoxified Morty flees Rick's attempt to merge him back with his insecurities, Jessica helps Rick track him down weeks later, Rick stating that she had been calling round asking for him. Later, back together with Brad, as Morty is pulled off to another adventure, Jessica calls out to him that she is glad to have him back. A deleted subplot in the episode further explored Jessica herself "detoxed", with her split versions described as "very co-dependent".

In "Edge of Tomorty: Rick Die Rickpeat", Morty becomes obsessed with using a "time crystal" to follow a life path towards a future where he will die peacefully with Jessica telling him she loves him, turning down an offer from the present-day Jessica to go skinny-dipping with her and her friends in the process. In the episode's epilogue, Morty overhears Jessica talk about how she wants to be a nurse and comfort the alone and unloved as they die, realising he had been following the path of the wrong future. In "The Vat of Acid Episode", while using a "do-over" remote to explore alternate life paths, Morty tries a route where he acts as though he does not know Jessica well ("Hey, Jessica, right?"), excluding a wave of coolness that leads her to squeal as he walks away, Jessica mentioning to him later that she likes him as he is, with these interactions displaced to another reality by the episode's end.

Seasons 5–present
In the fifth season premiere "Mort Dinner Rick Andre", as Rick's Ship is crashing, believing himself about to die, Morty calls Jessica to admit his feelings for her, only for her to reciprocate and invite him to watching a movie that night, with Morty agreeing and proceeding to save his own life, at the cost of Rick having to host Mr. Nimbus at the house that night for negotiations. During his date with Jessica, as their attempts at making out are interrupted by Nimbus repeatedly taking/breaking the flasks of wine Rick has Morty retrieve from a "Narnia" dimension where time passes faster whenever the door is closed in the family garage, Jessica considering leaving due to thinking he is busy, the other dimension begins to view the "immortal" Morty as a demonic figure, sending a soldier whose actions lead to Jessica being sucked into the dimension, where she is frozen in time as a lure for Morty. After Nimbus and Rick help Morty rescue Jessica, Morty tries to continue their date, only for Jessica to reveal how due to spending "endless time" in stasis with only her thoughts for company, she has a changed perspective on life and the universe, telling a crestfallen Morty that they should just be friends "for now", before walking off into the night, proclaiming to a cat-caller to "Fuck off, I'm a time god."

Jessica returns in the seventh season episode "Rickfending Your Mort" (following Morty's move to the Parmesan Dimension in "Solaricks"), where a flashback reveals her and Morty to now be casually dating, their walk through the park after seeing a movie being interrupted by a mugger, whom Morty unwittingly shoots a clone of Jeffrey Dahmer at, before the couple run away. Jessica is then confirmed to still be attending school in "Rise of the Numbericons: The Movie", Morty later witnessing a simulant of her witness him perform a rap within the mystical "Fear Hole" in "Fear No Mort".

Comic series
In "Dream A Little Dream of Me", a backup story to The Rickfinity Crisis, a dream is depicted where Morty waxes poetic to Jessica on a date before the two bring their story to Morty's bedroom. Before they can have sex, Jessica pulls off her face to reveal Scary Terry, and Jessica wakes up in her bed, the dream revealed to have been hers in a twist ending, Jessica having a crush on Morty herself since the events of "Ricksy Business".

In "Some Morty to Love", Morty invites Jessica to a school dance, which she initially rejects due to having already been asked to go by Brad, before deciding to go with Morty after Brad leaves her. Due to Morty already having made plans to attend with Princess Decoria of Mars, he has his clone "Spare Parts Morty" go with Jessica instead, rather than say he cannot go.

In Rick and Morty: Ever After, Morty and Jessica bond over the fairy tale collection Tales of Avalonia and how unexpectedly dark it was (as compared to its film adaptations) while leaving class, bonding the further the next day on taking their test, Morty oblivious to Jessica's reciprocal interest in him when she offers to drive him home.

In Rick and Morty Presents: Mr. Nimbus, Time God Jessica is depicted as waging a one-woman war on Mr. Nimbus (who nicknames her "Time Lord Jessica") for his role in her preservation in time. and transformation into a time god (in him having forced Morty to go back for wine so many times). Now equipped with time-altering powers, she dooms various alternate versions of Rick and Nimbus to a living hell of reincarnation, romance, and murder, while narrating how the two originally met.

In the opening of "The Space Shake Saga", Time God Jessica is revealed to maintain a collective consciousness across all Jessicas of the Central Finite Curve (in a take on Evelyn Wang and Jobu Tupaki from Everything Everywhere All at Once), choosing to attend class as normal in the Parmesan Dimension (where Morty moved to following the events of "Solaricks") while continuing as a deity in other dimensions.

Head-Space
In the Head-Space arc of Rick and Morty, 180 years into the future of Dimension C-132 (based on Frank Herbert's Dune), where an apathetic Morty C-132 rules as the immortal galactic emperor Morty'Dyb, he is depicted as having miniature "Jessiclamps" based on her visage crawl over his body as he listens to his speaker inform him of the affairs-of-state, while regularly sleeping with alien catgirl gholas of Jessica, the Morty'Dyb having wed his Jessica decades prior, before her eventual death.

Ever After
In the limited series Rick and Morty: Ever After, a horned red-haired sorceress "kinda" in the likeness of Jessica known simply as "The Witch" (promotionally as "Witch Jessica/Evil Witch Jessica") is manifested in the fantasy realm of Avalonia after Morty operating Rick's Osmonator too soon leads to the two being trapped inside the latter's fairy tale storybook Tales of Avalonia, physically manifested in a pocket dimension from both of their minds, with the Witch assisting Morty in taking on the realm's king (who resembles Morty's father Jerry), using his own Osmonator (built in an attempt to escape to reality) to return to their own reality.

Miscellaneous
Further alternate versions of Jessica appear in the web series Rick and Morty: The Non-Canonical Adventures (2016–2021), the video game Pocket Mortys (2016–present), and the anime series Rick and Morty: The Anime (2024–present). Additionally, the comic book series Rick and Morty: The Rickoning (2019–2020) features a dimension where-in every person, animal, and plant is identical to Jessica, as a dimension Morty occasionally absconds to when he has the portal gun to himself, while the 2021 pixel-animated short film Rick + Morty in the Eternal Nightmare Machine features a simulated Jessica as an antagonist, generated by the titular eternal nightmare machine of President Morty.

Reception
The character has received a positive reception. Comic Book Resources ranked the character as the series' best love interest across the series' then-five seasons, lauding her "compassionate nature and interest in the trappings of Morty's adventures [as] one of the few people in Morty's life who doesn't immediately mock him when he blunders", with Looper calling her "a fan-favorite recurring player". Screen Rant ranked Jessica as the series sixth-most-likeable character, noting her development from "a much more passive character [and] placeholder for the idea of a high school crush", to a Time God wondering whether "Could I be more?".

The A.V. Club described Jessica as "the archetypal crush a kid like Morty always has in shows and movies, the unattainable hottie who barely knows his name and wears absurdly short skirts to class", noting that "every time Jessica pops up, it's this weird bit of stupidity [where she] behaves like [what it] is like romancing a character in Mass Effect [where] that stupidity is part of the gag", complimenting her character in "Mort Dinner Rick Andre" as "mak[ing] her more interesting" as compared to her depiction in earlier seasons, with Inverse similarly lauding her storyline as "one of the [series'] best sci-fi subplots" and a potential end to her storyline, noting that were to the character to return, the series "needs to invest more in Jessica or let her go entirely". Decider described "Jessica’s arc from normal teenager to literal time god [as] peak Rick and Morty", expressing interest her receiving her own spin-off solo series, lauding the "interesting and comedically rich premise" created for a character who has "paid her dues as a side character".