Fortnite releases Rick & Morty Wave 3 with Pickle Rick, Rick Prime

Players were offered two ways to add Pickle Rick to their locker: earn him by placing in the Pickle Rick Cup, a solo Battle Royale tournament held at 2:00 PM ET on March 6, 2026, or buy the Pickle Rick skin in the Item Shop shortly after the Cup for 1,500 V-Bucks, Beebom reported. The Rick Prime and Pickle Rick bundle was listed as a discounted 2,500 V-Bucks option, Sportskeeda reported, and Sportskeeda said the items would remain in the Item Shop through March 16, 2026 at 7:00 PM Eastern Time.

Timing and regional rollout followed dataminer and teaser signals: Vice cited dataminer ShiinaBR saying the Wave 3 cosmetics appear in the Item Shop after the daily reset at 4:00 PM PT / 7:00 PM ET, and Vice ran Epic Games teaser images and a regional timing table. Sportskeeda instructed players to find the cosmetics under the in-game "Rick and Morty" Tab and reiterated that buyers could purchase items individually or take the 2,500 V-Bucks bundle tied to the sets "The Real Deal" and "Solenya The Pickle Man."

The Pickle Rick Cup rewarded in-game items to high placements, Beebom recorded: ranks 1 through 2,350 earned the Pickle Rick skin and the Pickle Rick Pack back bling, while earning 8 points unlocked the "Pickle Rick!" Spray. Beebom noted placement requirements vary by region and described the Cup as a cross-platform solo playlist; Beebom also wrote, "If you end up underperforming in the Cup and miss out on getting the Pickle Rick skin for free, don’t worry, you can still obtain the skin through the Fortnite Item Shop."

Cosmetic previews and leak details came from both official and community sources. Vice published teaser-frame previews showing Pickle Rick, Rick Prime, and the Wheel of Better Things Than Morty back bling, and described a teaser clip in which Rick Prime tortures Morty by spinning his "wheel of better things than Morty" item from Season 5 Episode 9. Dataminer ShiinaBR's r/FortniteLeaks post listed assets as "NEW RICK & MORTY FORTNITE COLLAB LEAKS Rick Prime: Skin, Backbling; Pickaxe, Emote Pickle Rick: Skin, Backbling; Pickaxe Mr: PB & Squanchy Sidekicks," a post snippet that drew community attention and counted 31.2K Views in the thread excerpt.

Community reaction skewed positive for the visual update: a YouTube comment included in reporting said, "This skin is such a visual improvement over the older Rick Sanchez outfit from the BP, like compare them side by side!" Sportskeeda added historical context that Rick and Morty skins first appeared during Chapter 7 Season 1, Pacific Break, with update v39.51.

A note on sourcing: Epic Games teasers supplied official images and trailer frames used in coverage, while ShiinaBR and the Reddit post are leak/dataminer-level reporting and were cited as such by Vice and community outlets. Sportskeeda explicitly stated that Rick Prime and Pickle Rick are not exclusive and will return in the future, which frames this Wave 3 drop as part of an ongoing collaboration rather than a one-time exclusive.