Adult Swim has “ended its association” with ‘Rick and Morty‘ co-creator and star Justin Roiland the US broadcaster has announced, following recent events. The show will continue with his roles being recast.
The award-winning half-hour animated hit comedy series follows a sociopathic genius scientist who drags his inherently timid grandson on insanely dangerous adventures across the universe. Rick Sanchez is living with his daughter Beth’s family and constantly bringing her, his son-in-law Jerry, granddaughter Summer, and grandson Morty into intergalactic escapades. Roiland voiced both the characters of Rick and Morty.
The news of Roiland’s firing by the network comes following him being charged with felony domestic battery and false imprisonment in California earlier this month, in connection with an alleged incident in January 2020 toward an unnamed woman he was reportedly dating at the time. Roiland has pled not guilty, and in 2020 was released on a $50,000 bond. A hearing is scheduled for 27th April 2023. In a statement earlier this month, Roiland’s attorney said the media coverage of the case has been “inaccurate.” adding, “To be clear, not only is Justin innocent but we also have every expectation that this matter is on course to be dismissed once the district attorney’s office has completed its methodical review of the evidence.”
Whilst ‘Rick and Morty’ was co-created by Roiland and Dan Harmon, neither of them has been directly involved in the writing of the animated series for a number of seasons, with Roiland only providing the voices. The search will now be on for someone to take over those roles. It will be interesting to see whether the series, which was renewed back in 2018 for 70 episodes, will reference the fact that the leads sound a little different when it returns…
UPDATE: Hulu and 20th Television Animation have now also announced they have “ended our association” with Roiland too. 20th TV makes both ‘Solar Opposites‘ and new show ‘Koala Man‘, both of which air on Hulu in the US and Disney+ in the UK, and are expected to continue without him. Roiland also voiced characters on both those shows along with being the co-creator. Again, those roles will be recast.
‘Rick and Morty‘ currently airs on E4 in the UK under their overall deal for Adult Swim content. If you want to keep track of this or any other show, you can add them via our Never Miss system, and you’ll be notified when it gets a UK premiere date.
