Rick And Morty Will Be Even Better Without Its Canceled Creator?
While there still seems to be no official word from Adult Swim or the team behind Rick and Morty who will be replacing Justin Roiland as the voice of both titular characters, outside of a statement mentioning the use of “soundalikes,” executive producer Steve Levy seems to think the future is bright for the animated series.
“The work that we’re doing across the board has only gotten better. When the new season comes out, we’ll focus on how amazing it all turned out. We hope the fans will realize that this is the same old show, maybe even better!”
Steve Levy, Rick and Morty executive producer
During a recent interview with the LA Times, Levy explained how the hard work of the writers, animators, and actors has only made the show’s upcoming seventh season better than ever before, stating, “The work that we’re doing across the board has only gotten better. When the new season comes out, we’ll focus on how amazing it all turned out. We hope the fans will realize that this is the same old show, maybe even better!”
This may surprise many fans, who previously thought that Justin Roiland had served as the heart of the series. While Roiland was instrumental in creating, developing, and voicing the characters, behind-the-scenes sources say he hasn’t been a driving force behind Rick and Morty for many years. Roiland helped to develop and run the series alongside Community creator Dan Harmon but left the writer’s room some time between Seasons 2 and 3, according to unnamed writers on the show’s staff.
This disconnect from the rest of the Rick and Morty team seems to have made it simple for Adult Swim to sever ties with Roiland after a legal incident sparked an independent investigation from the network in January of this year. Justin Roiland was charged with felony domestic battery, as well as false imprisonment stemming from an alleged incident with a woman he had been dating. Though the Orange County District Attorney’s office eventually dropped all criminal charges associated with the alleged incident, the damage to Roiland’s reputation seems to be permanent.
Rick and Morty co-creator Justin Roiland was charged with felony domestic battery, which was soon dropped by the Orange County District Attorney.
The District Attorney cited a lack of evidence when making the decision to drop the charges in criminal court, though subsequent revelations of Roiland’s personal conduct, which were released across the internet during this time, have clouded the Rick and Morty co-creator’s reputation. Most notably, a series of screenshots allegedly showing Roiland messaging inappropriately with minors and using crude language in the name of shock humor has left many fans feeling unable to support the voice actor in his future endeavors.
Steve Levy has stated that the characters of Rick and Morty will be portrayed by a Justin Roiland soundalike in future seasons, though no new actor or actors have been named at this time. While this news previously left many fans with a deep sense of trepidation regarding the future of the series, Levy’s latest statements to the LA Times seem to be highly reassuring, suggesting the behind-the-scenes process of the show is currently moving like clockwork.
Rick and Morty Season 7 has no official release date, and with the ongoing strikes in Hollywood, it might not be for years.
While there is no current timeline for Rick and Morty‘s seventh season and beyond, the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike will certainly impact the series. Of course, the current deal Dan Harmon has in place with Adult Swim offers a massive 70 episode run, meaning work has already been started on Seasons 8 and 9 by the team behind the show.
Due to the way animated shows are made, this could mean that Rick and Morty‘s seventh and eighth seasons could continue premiering long into the strike, making the show one of the only productions still running during the ongoing negotiations with the AMPTP.
