"Rick and Morty" season 3 will premiere this year after all, but there's still a long way to go before the science fiction sitcom finally hits the small screen.

"I think season 3 is—we're targeting around the end of this year," series co-creator Dan Harmon said to the audience of the Magic City Comic Con. "You guys do realize we're at the beginning of this year?" he reminded.

Harmon and his "Rick and Morty" co-creator Justin Roiland took more than a year to put out the second season of the hit Adult Swim show. The first season was released in December 2013 with the second season dropping 17 months later.

It looks like the show is establishing a pattern since Harmon's remark suggested that "Rick and Morty" season 3 sounds like December premiere.

As for the plot to expect in the new season, fans speculate that Rick will find a way to get out of the maximum security prison down at the Galactic Federation.

Viewers expect he will do it one way or another. Fans do not believe Rick will be behind bars in most of "Rick and Morty" season 3. Rumor has it that he will get or receive the help of his grandson Morty.

This is what appears to be the vision of "Rick and Morty" comic artist Giahna Pantano, who designed a t-shirt that imagines Rick's triumph. Pantano's design was inspired by the theme of "unconditional love" in the season 2 finale.

"Even in a show where the vastness of the universe is explored we learn that discrimination and ignorance is not just a human trait but a universal one," Pantano explained.

"But we also learn that hope, tolerance and compassion is a universal trait as well. Even for a guy like Rick, fear can be overwhelming, but the key is not to let it consume you completely. It cannot contain you. Nor can an intergalactic prison," the artist went on to explain.

If this is the route Harmon and Roiland will take for "Rick and Morty" season 3 will take, it looks like everyone's favorite mad scientist will be out and about soon.