Madison Kwiecinski – Editor-in-Chief

Mvk5945@psu.edu

Justin Roiland, co-creator of television series “Rick and Morty” as well as the voice of both characters, has ended association with the series. Adult Swim, the network on which the show aired, announced Roiland’s separation from the network after it came to light that Roiland was facing allegations of felony domestic violence charges. 

Roiland has also resigned from various other projects and studios. He has left Hulu after working on the show “Solar Opposites” for three seasons and at Squanch Games, the gaming network in which he was previously involved.

Due to Roiland’s huge role in creating “Rick and Morty,” many fans were concerned this would be the end of the beloved television series. However, the network has made it clear they plan to continue producing “Rick and Morty” as normal, after fully replacing Justin Roiland. 

That leads fans to ask, what will this look like for the show? How are they going to go about recasting the voice actors? Will the quality of episodes remain the same? There are still many unanswered questions, but allow me to clarify what we do know thus far. 

First, Roiland was removed as a producer of the show, but that does not leave the show without a producer. Dan Harmon will be promoted from co-creator of the show to the sole creator, meaning there will still be some consistency in who is creating it. 

Justin Roiland obviously had his strengths in production, often being the one who received credit for the more bizarre and outlandish episodes of ‘Rick and Morty.” Roiland was good for creating the kinds of episodes that were so creative and strange you would likely refrain from speaking about them out of context in public. 

However, when it comes to Harmon, who has put over six years into “Rick and Morty,” he often receives credit for bringing the heart and substance back into the show, creating themes that actually center around character development throughout the outlandish adventures. 

Harmon is also not without experience, having worked on several other shows before. He is best known for being the writer and executive producer for the hit television series “Community.” 

People seem to be concerned Harmon will lose direction without Roiland, but that seems unlikely considering Harmon’ own experience. 

Harmon also accidentally revealed in a 2022 interview with IGN that the series is already several seasons ahead. This does not mean each season is fully finished, but it does mean there is already a loose outline of the direction they are taking. 

Additionally, these two men are not the only ones involved with the production of the show. There are numerous people behind the scenes pitching ideas and having pieces move who will remain there and unchanged. All of this is to say that fans, even if they are looking, likely will not notice any major difference in the quality show, at least for some time. 

However, there is one major undeniable difference moving forward: the voice. Roiland voices the two primary characters, as well as many many incidental side characters. The good news here is that the show only requires voice acting, making it rather realistic to replace Roiland’s role while generally keeping the same voice for the characters. 

Fans of the show have even taken to suggesting people to play the role who are already accomplished at Rick’s voice, such as Sean Kelly, known as Mortysays on TikTok. Other famous voice actors have also been suggested, and it has been stated that even Harmon has not been ruled out for playing Rick’s voice. 

Regardless of all of this, “Rick and Morty” fans simply should not be concerned about the show’s ability to move forward. The very premise of the show is essentially that anything is possible in this multiversal world. In the show currently, Rick is not the original Rick, the family he lives with is not the original family, we are not sure if Beth is really Beth, and even if she is she is not the original Beth. 

All of this is to say, essentially that weirder things than recasting the voices happens in nearly every single episode of this show. A show centered around the multiverse and the infinite possibilities it could go through at its premise. I am not concerned about the show’s ability to continue, “Rick and Morty” will likely go on shocking fans for several more seasons.