At the 2016 San Diego Comic-Con, a rough cut animation of "Pickle Rick" was released, featuring him in the sewer attacking rats.[1] As the second season of the show ended with Rick jailed, this led some fans to believe that this was how he would escape, leading to confusion when the third-season premiere was released on April 1, 2017, and showed Rick escaping in a very different way.[15] Three weeks prior to the episode's airing, free "Pickle Rick" T-shirts and other merchandise were given away at the 2017 San Diego Comic-Con.[3]