I saw someone recently post about wanting a Rick Prime backstory, and I thought of an idea that might be interesting:

What if we saw that, in Rick Prime’s universe, his relationship with Diane is fragile and strained — maybe because he lacks the emotional intelligence to maintain the relationship, or because their communication just wasn’t great. Whatever the reason, the viewer feels bad for both of them. We see Diane pregnant with Beth, and tensions rise during the pregnancy. To make matters worse, Diane has a miscarriage, drawing them even further apart. They both turn to alcohol, and their relationship becomes very rough. One night, after a fight, Diane drinks too much and overdoses — driving Rick Prime into a deep depression.

This leads him to invent portal travel, as a way to have a “do-over” with his family. (This would sort of parallel how C-137 invented portal travel — I’m aware C-137’s motivation was to find Prime, but still, both inventions come after losing their families.)

Anyway, Prime starts traveling to new universes, finding ones where Rick had died, and essentially replacing them, blending in (again, drawing some parallels to C-137).

Whether it’s the Dianes figuring out that he’s not their original Rick, or simply falling out of love with him, things continue to not work out. It becomes clear he struggles with relationships — and that no one can truly replace his original Diane. At some point, he realizes he’ll never get a second chance with her, and that’s when he turns to ego. To cope, he develops a superiority complex over all other Ricks, convincing himself that his “rejection” of family, and his invention of portal travel, puts him above the rest.

He starts showing portal tech to other Ricks, expecting admiration. He assumes they’ll eventually abandon their families too and come to the same “truth” he did — that all they need is themselves.

But while the other Ricks admire the tech, none of them abandon their families. Deep down, Prime envies them — but he stays in denial, telling himself they just don’t “understand” like he does.

He keeps spreading his invention until he comes across C-137 — a Rick who not only has a great relationship with Diane but also rejects portal travel because of his love for his family. This hits Prime’s ego hard. Deep down, he might even feel like this Rick is the smartest of them all — and that thought enrages him.

As we know, this leads to Prime killing C-137’s Diane and Beth. He eventually creates the Omega Device and wipes out all Dianes across the multiverse — a move driven by pure envy.

That would bring us up to the current timeline of the show. Maybe we’d get glimpses of what Prime was doing during different key events in the series. And maybe we’d learn that he actually misses his original Diane — and that this is why he “allows” C-137 to kill him. (Some fans thought the final fight was anticlimactic, so this could help explain that too.) Of course, he’d never say any of this out loud. But the audience might be subtly clued in — like the episode ending with Prime’s wallet floating in space, revealing an old photo of him with his original Diane.

I think this would humanize Prime and add a lot of complexity to his character — showing how his evil is rooted in grief, denial, and envy. A man desperate for a second chance, only to learn that even infinite universes can’t offer perfect do-overs. And that realization drives him to extremes.

It would also draw some interesting parallels between Prime and C-137 — both of them learning, in the end, that nothing (not even revenge) can bring back what they lost.

Anyway, maybe this has plot holes or doesn’t fully work, but I’d love to hear what you all think — or if you have any other ideas for Prime’s backstory?

Rick Prime Backstory Idea