McDonald's Szechuan Sauce Is Back

Who knew animated shows had so much power?

Thousands of McDonald's fans are clamoring for the fast-food giant to bring back its Szechuan McNugget sauce. The plum sauce, which was a limited-edition special that came out in 1998 to help promote the Disney movie Mulan, made a guest appearance on an April Fools' episode of Adult Swim cartoon Rick and Morty, Fortune reports.

In the final moments of the episode—the first since 2015—Rick proclaims, "I'm not driven by avenging my dead family. I'm driven by finding that McNugget sauce. I want that Mulan McNugget sauce ... That's my series arc, Morty. If it takes nine seasons, I want that McNugget Szechuan sauce."

Fans of the show and the sauce have joined Rick's plea. More than 20,000 people have signed a petition on Change.org asking for the sauce to make a return. The petition simply reads "Bring back McDonald's chicken Mulan Szechuan sauce."

Meanwhile, a McDonald's corporate chef told a Business Insider reporter on Twitter, "I'll see what I can do."

A live-action version of Mulan is slated to come out in November, so if McDonald's is looking for an excuse to please the people, this just might be it.

UPDATE:

Thanks to the steadfast dedication of both Rick and Morty and 10-piece McNugget fans, McDonald's announced on Twitter that the sought-after sauce will be available in conjunction with the chain's new buttermilk chicken tenders. However, the legendary condiment will be available for only a single day, October 7, starting at 2 p.m.

(After you mark your calendar, mark your maps, too. According to Foodbeast, only around 600 McDonald's locations will have the Szechuan dipping sauce available in limited quantities and on a first-come, first-serve basis.) 

This article was originally published on 4/4/2017 and was updated by Andrew Bui with additional information on 10/3/2017.