Adult Swim cuts ties with Justin Roiland, will re-cast Rick and Morty
Roiland had been charged with felony domestic abuse and will no longer be involved with the show
Aux News Justin Roiland
Rick And Morty will live on, but it’ll do so without co-creator Justin Roiland. That was the announcement made today by Adult Swim, with the official Rick And Morty Twitter account also stating that Adult Swim has “ended its association” with Roiland and that the show will continue, noting that “the talented and dedicated crew are hard at work on season seven.”
The Hollywood Reporter says that the characters Roiland voiced on Rick And Morty—most notably Rick and Morty—will be re-cast, which means this is going to be a significantly larger change to the show than just removing him as the co-showrunner and eliminating whatever influence he had on the writing process. Roiland is credited as the co-creator, and still will be going forward, but that means it’s unclear how much actual writing he used to do from episode to episode. Either way, Dan Harmon will now be the sole showrunner on the series, though THR says Roiland will “always be credited as co-creator.”
This major shake-up to what is inarguably Adult Swim’s most enormous hit currently on the air (and possibly of all time) comes after a report came out earlier this year that Roiland had been charged with felony domestic battery and false imprisonment over a complaint filed against him in May of 2020 by a woman he was dating at the time. For the record, Roiland’s attorney has claimed that the media’s coverage of the case has been “inaccurate,” explaining that Roiland is not only “innocent” but that they “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.”
Adult Swim ordered 70 new episodes of Rick And Morty back in 2018, a number that should carry it through 10 seasons. With Roiland now out, it will presumably continue on with that order as planned. Meanwhile, there’s no word on what will happen to Hulu’s Solar Opposites, which Roiland also co-created and does a voice on.
299 Comments
Thankfully they didn’t cancel the show.
lol of course you watch that crap
Better than Velma, all day every day son 🙂
WHOA, sick burn! You really insulted that show that literally nobody watches or cares about.
Way to own the libs, hero!
What Velma’s been decent so far. My only issue is that it’s too self-referential at times but otherwise I think it’s awesome. Is it that you don’t like the race-swapping or queer Velma because…. that sounds more like your problem than anyone elses.
As long as you’d be cool with a white black panther? You can praise race swapping.As long as you’d be cool with a disney live action remake of princess and the frog with a white actress in the main role? Same thing.Velma being queer is irrelevant, it IS funny they made Daphne gay too. And hey: as long as you’d be cool with an established gay character being made straight? We’re fucking golden. But see I dont think you’d be cool with any of that. This always flows one way: race swaps are good when it’s white to literally any other race, but not vice versa. Making straight characters gay is good, but making a gay character straight would be akin to murder most foul.
Still credit where credit is due: “I spit truth like comedians before MeToo”Fucking solid. Velma is an edgelord. I approve.
Don’t bother engaging. chest Rockwell is a chud who is extremely invested in both anti-queer ideology and the racial purity of cartoon characters, is a consummate replyguy, and extremely dangerous internet tough guy.
No one was comparing the two, dork.
I am. Mindy Kaling also admitted to kissing a male co-star on the set of her show without permission. The kiss was unscripted. When will she get MeToo’d? A man who did this would be in trouble.Now we get to find out if these folk practice what they preach. It’ll be fun to see if she gets cancelled. Not that I want her cancelled, but I do want consistency.
Somebody somewhere is very angry.
The replies on here are about to be very different than the ones on Kotaku.Edit: Just seen they have some stuff on him talking to underage girls so even the worst of Rick & Morty ilk might be quiet,
Nope. Saw someone on another site defending him because he was “baited” into messaging minors, even though in at least one of the exchanges, it appears he sent the first message.
$100 the dude spent an inordinate time on Reddit…. make it a $1000
In Soviet Russia, minors prey on you!
Bullshit, kotaku has the same demographic as avclub
You should see the shitheads going off on this over in IGN’s comments. Such a collection of chuds.
Chuds, or people who believe in innocent until proven guilty?I know jack shit about this dude, and could care less about these shows, but watching people railroad someone on the basis of unproven accusations absolutely pisses me off. And that’s true no matter who the person is, what they look like, or what they do.Accusations are accusations, people, and if you think you can judge guilt or innocence on the basis of unproven accusations, well you’re fucking egotistical idiot who deserves to be falsely accused of something.
IGN comment section is a literal dumpster fire. It’s filled with the worst group of nerds I’ve ever seen.
That’s a fair assessment.
They tend to be worse here than on Kotaku. Most of the neckbeards there left years ago.
I’d like this to be true, but it won’t be.
There’ll be fans calling the acreenshots fake and peddling and ‘innocent til proven guilty’ line of thinking.SOURCE: Me, having already seen a lot of this.
idk there’s some pretty toxic dudes that idolize Rick out there. Somehow I wouldn’t be surprised if Roiland’s actions get considered “the Rickest of actions” by some fans. Woof.
Yeah, his name is Bruce Banner.
Run! Hide your families. The internet will not be safe for many days. Let’s hope the storm blows over before our supplies run out!
Yeah, you thought those morons went insane over the Szechuan sauce…
Just wait now they have reason to whine about cancel culture.
That someone is me!But it’s got nothing to do with Rick and Morty, I stubbed my toe this morning.
I cut my f’n finger on an English Muffin, then went to the Dr. a couple hours later… that alcohol hand spooge stuff on the wall, didn’t see it coming. Ruined. My. Day.
That stuff can be a right bastard.
just lit up the chest rockwell signal
If I was Adult Swim, I’d just bite the bullet and cancel the show. I know people like to point to “impressionists on TikTok,” but voice acting requires more than doing an impression of someone else. Not to mention how I bet Adult Swim probably doesn’t want to continuously remind people of the alleged domestic abuser and child groomer by not changing Rick and Morty’s voices at all.Just go to Dan Harmon, the showrunner, and the other writers and ask them to pitch a brand-new show.
Yeah, just throw away all of that sweet sweet intellectual property cash. That’s what networks are known for.
A lot of intellectual property cash tends to dry up when the IP gets closely – perhaps even inextricably – associated with alleged child groomers.Though in fairness, there’s always someone willing to exploit shit like that for a buck.
Please give examples, I can’t think of any.
he;s a groomer now for this? Man these definitions are so fluid!
He allegedly groomed multiple people. Like, textbook grooming. I don’t know what else you would call it.
Nah, see, it’s fine for creators to be groomers, so long as they’re creators that the Cancer dude up there likes.Since Cancer dude likes Justin Roiland, Justin Roiland sending creepy, sexually suggestive messages to a number of underage girls (with receipts) is fine.That’s it. That’s the “point.” Because some people are stump-fuckingly dumb.
Have you met the average Rick & Morty fan?
I mean, they tried that shit for the Futurama revival and the fans revolted sufficiently that they eventually paid the voice cast what they were worth. Recasting major roles tends to go badly.I expect a strong segment of the R&M fan base to respond…less gracefully. Would love to be wrong, don’t think I am.
If only the same thing happened with the writing cast of Futurama… they lost half of the original writers for the Comedy Central reboot and that’s why it was an embarrassment that ruined the legacy of the original run.
I wouldn’t go that far. Renewed Futurama wasn’t as good as the original, sure, but it was closer to it than, say, modern Simpsons is to the classic series.
I do think the smaller staff hurt — the Simpsons/Futurama style at its best tends to rely on a high intensity of comedy, which a large writing staff helps a lot with (which also seemed to be a big issue for Disenchantment right from the start). But, yes, it wasn’t that big a step down.
The Simpsons wasn’t as tragic though because it was always dumb humor. Futurama went from having clever and witty jokes to being Family Guy in Space. The characters were Flanderized and they started recycling old jokes without the setup, like having Bender say “I’m 40% [blank]” constantly in ways that didn’t even have the structure of a joke. Just a reference to an old joke (that was one of the weaker ones to begin with).I’m only so hard on it because I loved the original run so much, it killed me to see it in such a sad state.
They weren’t as good as the original run, but there were enough quality episodes in there to make the reboot worthwhile. Prisoner of Benda, Late Phillip J. Fry, and That Darn Katz come to mind.I certainly wouldn’t call it an embarrassment.
It didn’t ruin anything, jesus. Get a grip. It wasn’t anywhere NEAR as good but the first four volumes still exist, untouched, and you don’t have to watch the Comedy Central stuff.Although the Late Philip J Fry is among the show’s very best episodes. So.
With the complete loss of any ability to make me laugh, the attempts to recreate the magic of the old heartfelt episodes just felt cheap and crass. It was like they knew they couldn’t make anything funny so they instead just focused on adding to the canon. At which point, I might as well just read some fanfiction.
Right, but none of that ruins what came before. However.Your comment about it being “Family guy in space” is BANG-ON. That eyephone episode is one of the most putrid pieces of animation ever. It’s so bad and that was exactly what I was thinking the entire fucking time. This is just warmed-over family guy bullshit. And things like “Hermes actually knew Bender as a baby robot” was trying to do things like Leela’s Homeworld or Luck of the Fryrish without the same purpose or meaning; rather making the world annoying incestuous because apparently everybody has a history. I had a similar issue with the movies, especially Bender’s Big Score, which did an absurd amount of retconning Bender into a billion scenes hedidn’t need to be part of. I mean. I get it. The movies were a big letdown for me (I liked Green Yonder). I enjoyed the reboot enough but no, it’s not the same. I don’t have a black and white response. There are some fantastic episodes in the reboot. But it’s absolutely clear that their zeitgeist had passed; the original run was a particular magic time and space of writers and actors and creatives.
You know, usually I’m the one saying people are being precious and hyperbolic when they say something has “ruined a legacy” for the same reason. I think it’s different for me in this case because the reboot was a lot of people’s first exposure to Futurama, and it seemed to be the majority of the reruns when I last had cable. The new episodes being broadcast alongside old ones also bothered me.It’s just so disappointing when I meet somebody who says they like the show, but then references a terrible new episode.I really wanted to like it. I was so excited for the reboot that I still remember where I was and what I was doing while waiting for the live debut of the first two episodes. No fan ever wants to say that something they love has gone to crap.
That’s definitely an interesting perspective. I didn’t have cable then and I’m in Canada anyway. So I got the new episodes by buying the box sets. Then they were streaming on Netflix Canada for a good while. So it was more a continuation.Thrn there WAS a point where og Futurama was removed from Netflix and it was just the new stuff.
It wasn’t close to the level of the orginal run, but this is a gross exaggeration.
that’s why it was an embarrassment that ruined the legacy of the original run.Some of the series best episodes came after the CC reboot, particularly the later seasons once the new writers got their groove. Did you actually bother giving it a chance?
For the record, I was ECSTATIC when they announced the reboot, and I set up for the live debut like a superbowl party. I suffered through two seasons after the reboot and they were NOTHING like the old show. It went from having clever and witty jokes to being Family Guy in Space. The characters were Flanderized and they started recycling old jokes without the setup, like having Bender say “I’m 40% [blank]” constantly in ways that didn’t even have the structure of a joke. Just a reference to an old joke (that was one of the weaker ones to begin with).
Okay fair enough. Overall I agree, it was nowhere near the quality of the original run, but there were some standouts that I feel get overlooked whenever this discussion comes up.
My favorites would be:The Late Philip J FryThat Darn Katz! (it’s just so silly and cute)Prisoner of BendaSilence of the CLAAAAMMMMPSTip of the ZoidbergOverclockwiseCalculon 2.0Murder on the Planet ExpressMeanwhileThe rest are either “Enjoyable, not in a hurry to rewatch.” There are some absolute stinkers. Assie Come Home is……….. yeah. The stupid eyephone episode. I fucking hate the duh-vinci episode and prop infinity.
In fairness, I get a little worked up over it because I was so frustrated that nobody seemed to recognize the change in quality back then. It seems like over time though, more have picked up on it.
Wrll, I can definitely say I noticed it. I loathed the eyephone EP immediately.Looking over IMDb, I actually would say the first reboot season is at best mediocre, with several outright shite episodes, until it hits late Philip j fry. I would hold that up with among the very best Futurama. I also found the anthology episodes in the revival more or less uninspiring. Reality is when I go back to revisit Futurama, it’s the original run.
IIRC, it was only John DiMaggio who held out. And he finally won. Well, not actually. He finally decided he wanted to be the voice of Bender and accepted the terms that were offered.
Well, none of the Futurama revival involved anyone leaving in disgrace. I don’t imagine people would’ve revolted very much if (for example) John DiMaggio was found out to be an abuser. Recasting major roles tends to go badly when it’s over money but if it’s a case of someone being shitty they tend to adjust quicker.
You take John DiMaggio’s name out of your mouth this instant, good day sir harrumph
Look man I just needed a hypothetical cast member’s name and I couldn’t remember who played Zapp Brannigan to be thematically appropriate!
Billy West was Zapp Brannigan, and he was also Frye, Zoidberg, Farnsworth, and many others. Fun fact: he’s also the voice of the Red M&M
Wait what in real life John DiMaggio didn’t originally sign on to the new Futurama and fans went apeshit and then he changed his mind. Where were you for that?
On your first point, that’s a bit of a false equivalency, considering none of the Futurama cast were on the hook for any heinous crimes.To address your 2nd point: I agree! There’s going to be a shitload of toxic discourse surrounding this. A great deal of fans won’t care what Roiland has allegedly done, they’ll want him in. I’m willing to see where the show goes without him, and many others will too, i’m sure.
The fact that I could get a Rick & Morty-branded Mello Yello at Wendy’s was enough to tell me that R&M would be recast rather than cancelled. Too many corporations have too much capital caught up in this brand to walk away now.
Yeah didnt Rick show up in Space jam 2? Jesus christ he sold out.
Lately? Yeah pretty much they are.
HBO/Warner/Discovery whatever seems to love throwing their stuff away at least!
I think his comment made a lot of sense. But yours made me laugh way more.
Yep. This is a bad idea.
this, so much this. roiland’s like 95% of the dialogue and the replacement are always going to sound off, just let it die and move on.
💯 Imagine Family Guy continuing without Seth McFarland or South Park without Matt and Trey.
Or hire someone with a great voice like Matt Berry and just change the voice completely with zero explanation.
Or have an explanation. If there’s one show where having characters suddenly sound different could be made to make sense within world, it’s Rick and Morty.
Yeah, a different-sounding Rick and Morty appearing from a portal to kill and replace the previous Rick and Morty would be up their alley. Though presumably they’ll need to re-record a lot of Season 7 without re-writing it if it’s in production, so they might not be able to make that wink right away
Morty enters garage: “Gee Rick, I woke up and I think my voice is different?” Rick, with obviously different VA: “No, it’s fine.” *Both look at camera. Cold open ends*
That’s what Squidbillies did. Apparently, Unknown Hinson said something shitty and was kicked-off the show, so they replaced him with Tracy Morgan. Big change in voices and line deliveries there.The change didn’t really work for me, but it was apparently going to be the last season anyway and at least for me was already on the decline (it was kind of weird how the show was starting to morph into a more traditional animated sitcom).
Unknown Hinson went full MAGA on Facebook, disparaging the Black Lives Matter movement…and I think he called Dolly Parton a race traitor. Great voice, terrible man.
None of that should cost someone a job
That would be the Rickest thing ever.
This ^ the good thing that can come out of this is the hope that if toxic men who admire Rick and view him as a superhero as oppose to pitying him hear this news maybe possibly it’ll dethrone the character a bit (old fan who dreads everything beyond season 3)
I’m sorry there is nothing funny about “son of a bitch, I’m in”.
Do people actually *admire* Rick? He’s a cartoon asshole. I don’t think the point of R&M is admiring the characters.
Also, how is “son of a bitch, I’m in” not funny? Sure, if you don’t like the “drive the joke into the ground” approach they took with that particular gag, fine, totally legit to get annoyed by that. But as a riff on heist movie cliches it was absolutely funny, at *least* the first time
H John Benjaminfor rick AND morty
I say, Mor-tay…. WHISKEY!!!
I’m 100% behind this idea
I’d go all “The Connors” and just rebrand the show “The Sanchezes” or “The Smiths.” See if you can just carry on with Jerry, Summer, Beth, Space Beth, and their new dad, Birdperson.
They should go with “The Smiths” and feature their new asshole protagonist, Steven Patrick Morrissey.
Invisible Garbage Truck Jerry the show!
I don’t know how popular the Connors is (popular enough to still be on air I guess), but if the show would be at the same quality level of The Connors relative to the original series, they should just cancel it now.
I don’t mind them giving it a shot at least. It will absolutely sound off, but with talented enough actor(s) there’s a good chance we’ll get used to it, and ultimately I watch Rick and Morty for the writing, not the voice acting, terrific as it is. Plus we’ll still have the rest of the cast.(I’m still not terribly optimistic, mind you)
I mean, I guess there’s a reason you’re not a network executive if you want to cancel your cash cow instead of trying to salvage it.
It’s a malleable show. They’ll just have some sci-fi multiverse nonsense explaining why Rick and Morty sound different and carry on.
probably doesn’t want to continuously remind people of the alleged
domestic abuser and child groomer by not changing Rick and Morty’s
voices at all.
I mean maybe?… but like, Roiland’s voice is not identical to either Rick or Morty. It’s not a case like how (for example) Brian on Family Guy is literally just Seth Macfarlane’s natural speaking voice. Sure I suppose people will be reminded of him somewhat, but this is the one time where the general curse of animation (that a great deal of the audience doesn’t know who makes it or the voices behind it, and they mostly don’t care to learn) becomes a blessing in disguise. We all know it because everyone reading this is a dork that follows entertainment news, but I guarantee there are a ton of people who watch and enjoy R&M who do not know who Roiland is and will only find out when/if they realize the voices have changed next season, at which point they’ll say “damn that sucks, glad he’s gone” and go back to watching the show.
Should they? Sure. Will they? No. They bought 10 seasons of Rick and Morty and they are gonna squeeze their value you out of it, at least for one more season. If it ends up hurting them, they can drop it anytime, but for now they are looking at their investment and are going to try the damage control route first.
Just go to Dan Harmon, the showrunner, and the other writers and ask them to pitch a brand-new show.It’s just that easy!
I think they’d have to buy out Roiland and Harmon for the remainder of the 70 episode deal. It wouldn’t be cheap, but they could do it.
You must not be keeping up with the news about Cartoon Network’s parent company Warner Bros Discovery.
How do you figure?
WBD has been cancelling completed projects for tax breaks and pulling content from their streaming service so they don’t have to pay licensing fees. WBD is not in the “throw money at a problem until it goes away” business right now. Rick and Morty is a money maker for them and they will try and milk that cow as long as they can.
Ah, yeah that makes sense. I thought you meant that they’d hesitate to do something that they could declare as a loss (which, no, clearly not) but I guess Rick and Morty actually generates revenue for them (unlike properties intended to increase HBO Max subscriber numbers), so continuing production is more desirable to them than the loss.
Is the “child groomer” thing new? I’ve not seen any reports about that; this is the first I’ve seen Roiland accused of it. Is this just an internet rumor?
When the domestic abuse charges first went public, multiple people on Twitter posted screencaps of text messages with him grooming them. Pretty sick stuff.
Are you sure people weren’t conflating Roiland with Ren and Stimpy creator John Kricfalusi, who did sexually harass a bunch of people and groomed a then-16 year old. Not that I am trying to defend Roiland, but I also know the internet is not great with its sourcing.
How about they wait to see if the charges are valid? I hate to be cliche, but it is innocent until proven guilty not the other way around.
In a court of law. It’s “innocent until proven guilty” in a court of law, not the court of public opinion. People are free to form their own opinions on as much or as little evidence as they like. Adult Swim and its parent company also has the resources to investigate claims independently of law enforcement and the media. If what they found led them to cut ties with Roiland, it’s a safe bet they found dirt on him.
If it is true that they did an investigation, then I agree with you. I did some research and you are correct they did investigate and the allegations have been found to be true. My opinion does remain that I only base my opinions on the facts I have. Which is more than can be said about the “public” who casted aspersions with little to no information.
Or maybe the public casting aspersions knew more information than you did when you heard about it.
“Innocent until proven guilty” as understood is only true as far as the law is concerned – being fired from your job for being arrested and charged with a violent crime is completely legal and normal
I’m up for seeing what can be achieved without Roiland, what you are saying diminishes the efforts of the rest of the cast and crew.
Saying one person’s alleged crimes is a liability for a show hundreds of people work on doesn’t diminish their efforts, it’s facts.
But wait, Tracy Morgan is available.
It’s not like it would be the first time replacing the show creator whose also the main voice actor. The CN cartoon Clarence had something similar happen and honestly you couldn’t really tell the difference. I hope they go that direction rather than Squidbillies where the change was both noticeable and didn’t really work for the character.
I feel like the vast majority of voice recasts are noticeable. And my whole point is that even if Adult Swim either finds someone who nails a dead-on impression of Justin Roiland or uses A.I. to make the transition seamless, they will be airing a show starring a guy that sounds an awful lot like an alleged domestic abuser and child groomer. I’m not sure they want audiences to make that connection subconsciously. So their best bet is probably to recast the parts with someone who is noticeably different, and hope their entire audience goes along with it.*I’m* willing to go along with it, but I feel like a show with a famously obnoxious fanbase is going to have a tough time getting most people onboard. I guess we’ll see!
Yeah, I know a lot of people are saying that Harmon (who isn’t completely devoid of his own issues) is the real brains behind the show, but I don’t think you can overlook the impact Roiland’s voice work for the two main characters has on the show’s popularity.You can cast sound alikes, but will they be able to nail the timing and delivery? Remains to be seen but I’d probably say it’s time to hang it up.
it’s the most consistently predictable delivery possible. you could program it into an ai with, like, “+3 ‘ah geez’” / “intensify stutter”. literally every impression is perfect.
I’m sure there are people out there who practice those voices with religious devotion. I bet it will be hard to tell the difference.
I think it’ll be just fine without Roiland. There’s a million basement dwelling nerds with Rick & Morty impressions, and it can’t be that hard to find one with legitimate voice acting skills.
My whole point is, why would Adult Swim want to hire anyone who sounds exactly like an alleged domestic abuser or child groomer (or any basement dwelling nerd for that matter)? I think Roiland’s replacement is going to be a veteran VA who sounds noticeably distinctive from him.
They won’t sound like Roiland, they’ll sound like Rick and Morty.
“It’s a huge risk, but I like it!” said nobody ever involved in making these kinds of decisions.
This might be the stupidest thing I’ve ever read
This is honestly a great deal quicker and more resolute action than I would have given them credit for. Kudos to however far up the chain this had to go get this result.Let this be a warning to any network thinking about renewing one of their hit shows for 5+ additional seasons all at once. Not only will it probably start to suck earlier than halfway through, you’ve got a more than decent chance of someone involved in the production being outed as a sex pest or worse.
Yeah, this past season did nothing for me at all. This provides a good excuse to not bother with what’s to come.
The fact that you said “sex pest” makes me think you’re a big fan of Red Letter Media
I don’t know anything more about Red Letter Media than the name, and certainly not enough to know if me using a term they use is enough for you to judge me as a certain type of person. But, like, it’s a pretty common term and is fairly regularly used in actual articles here and other GMO sites. You might as well say I’m a big fan of McDonald’s because I used the phrase “secret sauce”.
yeah sex pest is a term that has existed since long before red letter media existed.
Red Letter Media is great. I had never heard the term before watching Half in the Bag and rarely hear it outside of Mike Stoklasa’s musings. Sorry for assuming that that was the case with you. No judgement or offense was intended. Good example with “secret sauce”.
I’ve seen this term thrown around a lot since Kevin Spacey. Actually often on this website.
They’ve been calling Louis C.K. a sex pest for awhile now.
Yeah I was chatting with a buddy about this last night. I’d really like to visit the timeline where they didn’t renew Rick and Morty for 70 episodes all at once after the szechwan hype. That is such clear and obvious death knell for quality. It got so bad that I was living with a couple college room mates a few years ago and one day I came home with a BoJack Horseman poster and one of my room mates is like “This is allowed, but a Rick and Morty poster is not allowed in this house.” which I cant at all argue with. I just….. I dunno if there’s anything tackier than Rick and Morty merch out there. He sold out so heavily he made a cameo in fucking Space Jam 2.
but like what else would any show do after a 70 episode renewal that’s longer than the time you’ve currently existed on the air. You slide back and crank on the cruise control for the next seven years. Idiots.
All that Space Jam 2 was is a glorified cameo device for any and all things that WB owns the rights to. The god damn Droogs from A Clockwork Orange were even at the final basketball game.
Yes, kudos for the network for jumping in front of the criminal justice system and ending a longtime ally’s career on the basis of unproven accusations. Fucking obnoxious. Put the man on leave, wait until the allegations are proven, or he is exonerated, and then make a decision. Absolute bullshit.
“Sex Pest” is my favorite Spinal Tap deep cut.
damn, between roiland, middleditch and haddish they’re got a real murderers row over there at solar opposites.
Ugh…it sucks. Rick and Morty fell off for me, but Solar Opposites just kept getting better.
I did thoroughly enjoy that show more than I expected, but yikes, that voice cast is just going to be completely repurposed or the show trashed. Bummer.
I thought the last season was a return to form mostly!
Yeah this was gonna be the first year that I wasnt planning on watching but a coworker tipped me off that the quality had an uptick. I wouldnt call he recent season “a return to form” but it was better than seasons 4 and 5.
There was just too many instances during seasons 4 and 5 where buddies would be over and wed be like “aw yoo throw on the new episode!” and then it would be like the sex dragons one or something and we’d just be sitting there like “what is this?”. Way too many times I got excited and sat down to a lackluster episode. I might be more jaded toward this show than any other TV. It’s become a real “fool me once shame on you fool me twice shame on me” situation for me.
The kid from the goldbergs is going to be behind some fucked up shit, I just know it
I think Middleditch’s conduct is kinda gross but ultimately between him and his ex. I don’t think it rises to the standard of misconduct. I don’t know enough about the Hadrian situation to have an opinion on her situation.Even if Roiland is acquitted in this court case, there’s the apparent grooming of underage folks, which I bet is what really got him fired.I definitely wonder what will happen to Solar Opposites, though. The impression I got was that Roiland was more involved in the writing on that show these days, but I don’t really know that for sure.
What I’ve heard about the Hadrian situation is that he was a bit too touchy-feely with young Antinous and that the boy’s fatal fall into the Nile may have been due to a lover’s quarrel with the Emperor, thus his extravagant grief and all the statues of the deceased.
You sure about that? I knew people were looking into it, but I’d heard they hit a wall.
I’m not upset that I missed this typo, thanks to you!
lol there was more to middleditch than what happened “between him and his ex”
Eh, Middleditch has also been accused of groping the waitstaff at a club.
yeah that was what i was referring to. he’s been pretty credibly accused of sexual misconduct. i’m not sure what the thing between him and his ex is.
Not unrelated to the groping incidents, I’m guessing, but Middleditch declared in an interview that he and his (now ex-) wife were in an “open relationship” and it seems like she wasn’t entirely on board with that arrangement. (Or not—lot of reading between the lines going on here.)
It’s so bizarre to me when I encounter couples in an open relationship and then discover one partner is more on board with it then the other. People are ridiculous entering into that situation hoping they’ll change at some point. Woof. I’ve known at least two dudes who were in open relationships with women and talking about it absolutely made their skin crawl. That’s so unhealthy.
I’d still say the person in the relationship is at fault in those situations that escalate to domestic violence that are open relationships. The person entered into the situation with all the information, knew they would get their feelings hurt, got their feelings hurt, and have now become aggressive about it. I’m sorry there’s no excuse for that that’s the persons own fault.
I had a buddy who was like “hopefully she gets it out of her system soon” and it’s like dude no.
Its officially a cursed show.
Wow. The show is effectively over.
Wubbaa lubba dub dub.
I turned myself into A Problem Mortyyyyyy [brap]
How has no one made this comment yet LOL
Is Billy West free?
No, but you’ll get your money’s worth.
Maybe this is all just a cunning plan by [AS] to have an excuse to bring Metalocolpse and The Venture Bros. back?
We can dream!
Harvey Birdman but…. stay with me here…A “shot for shot recreation” of Better Caul Saul, or a parody….or something inbetween
Better Call Birdman? Sure.
::Shakes vigorously:: BRO?!?!?!??!
It’s both in my dreams and nightmares, animated and live action….
hahaha. Hopefully She-Hulk can make a cameo.
I would love to see a Harvey Birdman version of Better Call Saul. That maybe the best thing ever thought of. Get a treatment to [AS] immediately!
I think it’s pretty obvious that they’d bring Assy McGee back first….or at least, I which they did. Scion commercials and all.
Izzat u, Sanchez?!
Justice for Stroker & Hoop!
Love Stroker & Hoop. Need a revival of that, Assy McGee, AND Jeff & Some Aliens.
Scion! TC!Cyron! Teeshee!
I would gladly trade all the Rick and Morty in the world for more Venture Brothers.
Wait, Venture Bros got canceled? I just assumed it’d be on hiatus for a decade or so and maybe eventually I could finish the series on my deathbed…
It got cancelled, but Adult Swim is letting them do a movie to wrap up everything.
(I was kidding)
I want more Sealab.And, while they’re at it, Space Ghost.You know, the funny stuff.
Sealab without Captain Murphy really went downhill. A couple good episodes there but no happy cake, or I robot.
That’s true. Sadly true.I need me some Mingus Dew.
Stop. Just stop. I can only get so erect.
They’re making movies of both of those shows to wrap up on all the loose ends (assuming they don’t get canceled by the new boss, but the new Aqua Teen movie already came out so I’m guessing they’re safe).
When the whole Louis CK thing went down, Alex Hirsch was very quick to replace CK’s voice on the small parts he did on Gravity Falls. I wonder if they’ll go back and replace Roiland’s voice, since he played a fairly important minor character in multiple eps.Hell, get Alex Hirsch to play Rick and Morty while you’re at it. The two shows had a lot of running gags with each other anyway. This’ll just top it off.
I mean, we can never really know, but Alex Hirsch’s shows always seemed like better work environments than the R&M gang
Look at me Morty! I turned myself into an Owl-Worm-Demon-Thing!
Oh yeah, I forgot about his role in that show; I just always think of him as Lemongrab.
I finally watched Gravity Falls this year. So the first time I heard Blevin Blandin I was a bit taken aback. It’s not the end of the world if they leave those parts in, it’s only three episodes, but it’s also only three episodes and wouldn’t be too much to redo. Frankly, Hirsch could do it himself and it would sound right on.
Blevin Blandin sounded a little too much like Morty anyway, really.
Still, i really did appreciate the easter eggs between the two shows. I think you see Rick’s portal gun in one of the Gravity Falls ep.
Is it about erasure of Roiland’s performance or just making sure he doesnt continue to get paid and do that job? I didnt think they were redubbing all the previous seasons of Rick and Morty just the new stuff. I dont think people are bothered by it retroactively I think it’s more to do with whether he can continue to be employed now (which the answer is no). It’s the same with the sex pests I don’t mind that media from before they were outed exists. It’s a little harder to listen to Louis C.K. talk about a bag of dicks now but whatever. I didn’t think we were banning films like Baby Driver.
I honestly didn’t think they needed to recast Louis CK at all. It was just a bit part, i think a couple lines in two episodes? But his delivery was actually pretty good and i think the redubbing actually lost something. I can see in the moment why they decided to do it, but I’m not sure six years later anyone would be calling to boycott Gravity Falls because of it. Big difference from Roiland, of course.
Mark my words, they’ll use an Ai voice actor to replace those characters.R&M fans will lose their minds criticizing the “lack of realism” the PR and media buzz will more than eclipse the problematic Roiland.
They might have to pay royalties to Roiland if they used AI-synthesized voices of Rick and Morty based on his voice. It’s more likely they’ll hire a new voice actor or actors.
They wouldn’t expend vast amounts of money to keep it alive then sabotage it by doing something obviously stupid like that.
Wow how are they ever going to recast the literally one voice he does for 35 characters.
Hopefully they’ll replace him with multiple people so that interdimensional cable doesn’t sound like a clone army.
Seriously. At least the two people from The Venture Bros. that voice 95% of the characters make an effort to do different voices. Roiland has got to be the absolute laziest voice actor out there for someone who has a distinctive voice.
Three voices.
Rick voice, Marty voice, Mr. Poopybutthole/Lemongrab voice.
Mr. Meeseeks, Noob-noob, Ants in my Eyes Johnson, Gazorpazorpfield, Baby Legs, Real Fake Doors Salesman, Tophat Jones, Taddy Mason, the Cromulons, Randy Dicknose, Eyeholes Man, Jan Michael Vincent, Stealy, Comedian, Michael Thompson, Pichael Thompson, Octopus Man, Truth Tortoise, Glar, Michael, Mr. Always Wants To Be Hunted, Mr. Frundles.
Sorry that’s only 25 my bad.
How anyone will miss that same screechy, stuttering voice is beyond me. I’m good with a recast.
I wonder if they’ve already signed Patton Oswalt and are just waiting a bit for this to blow over before making the announcement.
oh that’s actually the most realistic suggestion I’ve seen. Nice.
Please fight RefinedBean and let me know who wins this thread.
Oh, please, no.
Please fight cosmicghostrider and let me know who wins this thread.
The only winning move is not to play.
I DEMAND COMBAT! It’s the Internet, I’m here for cats, porn, and senseless heated arguments over trivial things.
>> Adult Swim has “ended its association” with RoilandCan they really, though? As “co-creator” doesn’t he profit from their decision to continue the series (and re-air old episodes, and peddle merchandise sales)? Sadly, I’ve never co-created a TV series so I’m not sure. I’m more certain that he will continue getting residuals for the episodes he wrote (IMDb lists only 6) or voiced (all of them).Would this be a bad time to remind people that the series originated with a short video in which sexual abuse of a minor was the joke?
It’s either a bad time or the best time, not sure which.
“Can they really, though?”
Yes. They will no longer associate with him.
Fucking difficult, wasn’t it?
It’s possible that they had a morality clause in his contract with either a payout or the ability to just drop him cold.
The show has been like three good episodes each season and the rest of the season stinks, ever since it was renewed. The incest space baby, the one with jerry and if he is going to fuck his mom, these are stupid and puerile, the early seasons avoided this garbage. I thought the lightsaber episode was going to be about fan service, but it just kind of sucked, and the Rick Prime archnemesis plot also sucks. So if they can find an off-ramp, maybe they should.
I have not been a die-hard fan, but I’ve kept up; this season did absolutely nothing for me.
I thought the first few episodes were okay, but I am definitely settling, and can also see somebody rejecting them because they weren’t up to par with the first seasons. I thought Beth fucking herself was pretty funny.
I dunno, every season has had a few clunkers. The Get Schwifty episode can go right to the trapezoid (the Phantom Zone, but my wife thinks “to the trapezoid” is funnier, and she’s right), for instance. 4 and 5 had the largest proportion of clunkers, IMO. I’d rank the seasons 1, 2, 3 & 6 (tie), 5, 4. 6 could improve in retrospect depending on what they do in 7. But my opinion matters very little to folks who either hate the show or to people that think Rick is the “good guy” on the show. Beth fucking herself was funny for sure, but also a pretty interesting dive into the psyches of Rick, Beth, and Jerry.
After season 2 the show kind of started disappearing up its own ass…
The Ricklantis Mixup (tales of the citadel) is, to me, the best episode of the show, I think it still had it in Season 3
That’s why I say ‘started to’, the multiverse of Ricks is a great parody no doubt and The Ricklantis Mixup is a s3 highlight.
Season 3 worked well for me. That was the april fools day szechwan sauce season. The szechwan sauce thing wasn’t bad it was that people got WAY TOO HYPE afterward. Renewal came during season 3. Season 3 had a bunch of bangers and the infamous “Pickle Rick”. It’s easy to forget now that Pickle Rick was actually a great episode due to them merching the hell out of Pickle Rick.
I’m of opposite opinion, I was very happy with this season and thought it was one of its strongest. More self-contained tales, the humor was varied, and it didn’t take itself as seriously. Thumbs up from me. The “meta” episode was one of my favorites yet.
To each their own cinema :)jk YOU ARE WRONGjk
Agreed!
i honestly think the show has been as good (and as bad) as it’s ever been it’s just that when you add up how much of it there is everything just gets diluted.
Roiland also resigned from Squanch games the team that released High on Life recently. I’m not sure what that means or what to feel about that but I do want to try that game.
They could just write off Rick and Morty themselves (like have them leave to go after Rick Prime or whatever) and just make it The Jerry Show. I’d probably start watching it again.
Honestly I’d never stop laughing
Cast Keith David you cowards
Cast David Keith you philistines.
Cast Philistine Keith, you Davids.
Sadly Gilbert Gottfried isn’t alive anymore as he’d be my go to. Honestly though, after seeing Little Demon, I think Danny DeVito could work as Rick.
They definitely should just cancel it though it’s obvious why they aren’t. Like it or not, Roiland is/was a big part of the show and it feels weird to try to emulate his comedy style while simultaneously trying to make people forget about him. Luckily the show is now in the capable hands of Dan Harmon who isn’t known for being problematic at all…
What’s weird is I truly assumed Roiland had to be the grounded one keeping Harmon in check. How did this go on so long if both of them were unhinged? Harmon is open about his alcoholism tho and I make a habit not to trust alcoholics. They lie.
They could always rename it Summer and Beth.
way better idea
Sarah Chalke deserves all the paychecks!
Well… Dan Harmon is an old hand at shows losing showrunners. Its just not him this time. I guess this is the best course of action, fanboys will bitch but when haven’t they. Best of luck to whoever voices the roles. Also keep Keith David above all else.
Goodbye Rick and Morty, it was a good run. But cancel culture came for you too.
I believe the response here is “Aw geez”
We also would have accepted “Aw man”
Looks like Roiland is . . . in a pickle.
In the next episode have the portal gun malfunction and change their voices when they go through the portal. Then use new actors that don’t sound like Roiland. An easy fix.
They don’t even need a contrivance. Morty’s voice has been in the middle of breaking the whole damn time!
I know it may be an unpopular opinion and/or hot take but I’m glad they’re not canceling the show. I know some people in the animation industry (including a couple who worked on R&M) and it’s tough enough making a living in that field already so I’d hate to see bunches of hardworking people be punished for Roiland’s crimes.He’s only credited as writing 6 episodes and there’s a ton of voice actors (and/or amateurs on YouTube trying to break into the professional field) out there that can learn to be good soundalikes for his parts. His loss shouldn’t kill the show.
It’s weird how people are like “shame they aren’t cancelling the show”, like they didn’t care that Roiland himself was being dealt with.
I know some people in the animation industry (including a couple who worked on R&M) and it’s tough enough making a living in that field already so I’d hate to see bunches of hardworking people be punished for Roiland’s crimes. I mean…working on a pop culture and critically acclaimed juggernaut of a show like R&M has to be solid resume fodder, no?I don’t care whether the show is or isn’t canceled, FWIW. I just don’t see it as being terribly well received with a recast.
As I understand it, it’s less about having a solid resume or not but more about just having any available jobs. Networks/streamers (specifically I’m thinking of WB and Netflix) are axing animated shows right and left these days, so you can have a great resume but that won’t matter because there’s nowhere hiring.
Ah, yep, makes sense.
As I understand it, it’s less about having a solid resume or not but more about just having any available jobs. Networks/streamers (specifically I’m thinking of WB and Netflix) are axing animated shows right and left these days, so you can have a great resume but that won’t matter because there’s nowhere hiring. As someone who works in the animation industry, I can confirm. I see in my Instagram feed every day now some of my friends who usually have a main gig and a ton of freelance on the side, that are now looking for work. These are people with over 15 years of experience and Emmys under their belts too. I know a couple people on R&M too. Hopefully the recasting will work for their sake.
ACDC was well received with a new voice… 😉🤪
I’d actually considered that! Entirely possible, though a dead former front man can generate a ton of good will.
People are also down on the latest season and I thought it was one of the strongest it’s ever been, and I think Harmon and Roiland had less involvement than usual. I remember reading that they’ve given things up to a writing room that’s much younger AND more diverse (especially with female voices), and I think it showed. I really enjoyed it.
Agreed 100%. This was my favorite season since 3, and honestly I think it’s pretty close between 3 and 6. I personally am digging the serialization.
Or, and stay with me here, shame on the network for firing a long-time ally and important artist purely on the basis of unadjudicated, unproven accusations.That ridiculous, rash decision was beyond bullshit, I hope this show and everything else on the network fails, fuck if I’ll support a place that would railroad someone’s life on the basis of unproven claims of wrongdoing.
I mean… Christopher Lloyd’s available last I heard.
Just go full Disney and write the entire production expense off as a tax loss.
That’s WB/Discovery’s MO.
The obvious play is to replace the voices, but for the new person to not try and mimc what Justin was doing, just have them sound completely different and write it cleverly in to the show. I’m sure Dan would love the challenge to figure out how to make it work.
Well, I for one, am shocked — SHOCKED, I SAY! — that the co-creator of a show that was spun out of a short that featured Doc Brown convincing Marty…erm…Bharty that he had to fellate him to get out of dire situations (that he engineered into happening in the first place) turned out to be an (alleged) abuser and confirmed pervert.SHOCKED!!!
I think they should do it like they did Jeopardy. For each episode, just cast a different celebrity or voice actor. Each episode will have a new voice and since its Rick and Morty you can just have some made up reason for why their voices keep changing, like they’re vocal cords got effected during interdimensional travel, or something. Would also add more personality to the characters that are basically, I’m a genius scientist nihilist and my sidekick, dumb, sympathetic character forever going through puberty
It will sound weird for a few episodes then we wont even think about it.
I don’t think it’s the felony charges that got him, because he’s still technically innocent until proven guilty on that stuff. People have, however, been sharing screenshots of him perving on underage girls and calling them ‘jailbait’ – there are other things but that was the nail in the coffin for me personally and I’m sure it was for Adult Swim as well.
Eh, I won’t watch just because I hate “cancel culture”. Let the guy have his day in court first.
Do they know something that the courts should be told? I guess you can be fired for no reason in the US but why not wait until they find out if he’s guilty?Surely not to drum up publicity pieces about a faltering show?
“I guess you can be fired for no reason in the US”
Are you retarded?
Probably has a lot to do with him perving on 16-year-olds.
You should probably look up all the grooming of young teens Roiland has been accused of.
No thanks.But that’s what I’m saying… he’s been accused of crimes but he hasn’t been found guilty yet. Or has he? I don’t know, I’m probably making an ass of myself.
There’s always someone to come along and say something like this in situations like these, and it’s apparently always necessary to remind that someone that the standard required for a conviction in a court of law is irrelevant to these discussions.
“There’s always someone who comes along, and says something reasonable like, ‘ isnt destroying peoples lives base don accusations a dangerous path to take as a society’.” to which you respond “WITCH!”
I guess that’s true. Seems harsh though. What if he’s totally exonerated? Not saying that’s likely or anything.
If my employer found out in 2023 that I was charged with crimes in 2020 and had been quietly going to hearings since that time, never telling them about said charges, I’d be fired, too. That’s my guess: he kept it from Adult Swim / Hulu / etc.
Yeah, that makes sense. Cheers.I guess it’s very industry/visibility dependent. I work for a small company and am not customer facing so if I was going through a court case and was eventually found innocent, I don’t believe they would need to know about it. And if they did know about it they’d wait for the results. But then, it wouldn’t be in the media destroying their good name.
No, your employer does not have wait until a jury finds you guilty in order to cut ties with you. In fact, your employer doesn’t need any reason to fire you. Google “right to work laws”
Yeah, I know they don’t “have to”. See my original comment. I just figured they must be pretty sure that he was a bad egg to fire him when he created one of their most popular shows.
Like, if I was accused of something awful I’d be calling my employer and colleagues as character witnesses.
Congrats on being part of the “grooming” panic. you’re so brave.
grooming minors
Congrats on being part of the “grooming” panic. You’re soooo brave.
Depending on the job, it can actually be quite easy to get fired in the US. Being arrested and charged with a violent crime is enough to get you fired from many industries, let alone the allegations of grooming
Most employment contracts have clauses in them that allow for employees to be fired for cause if they are charged with a felony or do something that could be damaging to the company.
I’m sure they know a lot that you and I don’t know and did their work to avoid a lawsuit. You can stop the handwringing.
i mean you can definitely be fired for no reason if you work on tv, my guy. he got fire for a reason, though.
Get Doc Hammer and Jackson Publick. You just need to wait 5 year between each season.
Hahahha good luck! Hard working crew!? Aaaaahhhhh hahahahaha it’ll crash and burn. Wokenes deprives us from a talented personality who made a bad private life choice. That’s his personal life…and it should stay that way. shame on adult swim for caving in to this scandalous bullshit!
Maybe if you whined more about your cartoon…
Show’s finished. He doesn’t just “do the voices”, his brand of humor’s intrinsic to it. (Not judging the decision, just saying).
Is Chris Pratt available?
Somewhere, in a hidden lair, Billy West’s red phone rings…
David Cross for Rick!
“The Hollywood Reporter says that the characters Roiland voiced on Rick And Morty—most notably Rick and Morty—will be re-cast…”Y’all should have just cancelled it. The only way for this to work is to get an impressionist to do the voice acting… But those voices are so heavily ingrained in Roiland’s work that they appear in other places: Solar Opposites, High On Life, and etc. Basically, the titular Rick and Morty voices are Roiland’s bread and butter, and it takes more than being an impressionist to do that level of voice acting in a studio. Add in the improvisational aspect of the role and kinda we’re no longer talking about finding a reasonable replacement—ergo, it should have been cancelled.I personally think that pulling the trigger on this before anything is lawfully decided rings too close to the notion of “He who is without sin, cast the first stone.” Which should basically be engraved on the tombstone of humanity at this point. From what I can find on the charges, there’s practically no specifics about the incident: where domestic battery can be as low as a slap, and false imprisonment can amount someone standing in a doorway. I could assume the worst, but I’m not that much of a cynic. In regards to that, there’s no mention of Roiland’s creepily unhinged DMs to underage girls, which is what I thought this was about… so I guess the validity of that news in uncertain (for now).What I do know, is that there’s no reason to watch Adult Swim anymore. With Venture Bros, Metalocalypse, ATHF, and Squidbillies all being cancelled, and nothing good to speak of further… Rick & Morty was the only thing holding it all together, and regardless of how anyone feels about the consistency of the writing, it was still a giant step above everything else they’ve been putting out.
Lots of comments pointing out that if any show is going to change the voices of it’s main characters, R&M is the one in a position to do so with in-universe plausibility. But the problem isn’t how the show is going to tackle the problem, it’s what the fans will think. R&M fans aren’t exactly the most rational bunch and I don’t see them taking too kindly to this change.
R&M was on my queue of stuff to watch for awhile now and I am wondering if I should actually give it a go? It seems up my alley and I know a lot of people like it. But between stories of certain elements of the fanbase and Roiland, I am wondering if it is something that I should just skip entirely at this point. Is it worth the watch, or am I better off investing my time elsewhere?
It’s a fun show, and as long as you’re a rational human being who doesn’t wrap up their entire sense of being and personality into it, you’ll enjoy your time watching it.
Yeah Rick’s a character we’re supposed to pity and some people think of him as superhero alpha male so just don’t do that and you’ll have a great time.
The R&M merch has really hurt my love for the earlier seasons retroactively. And of course the horrible fanbase.
Funniest shit I’ve ever seen.
A hasty over-reaction. But Rick and Morty not sounding like Rick and Morty? Fuck, no. They should just wait this out and put it on hold. We’ve waited 11 years between seasons before, I think.
If Adult Swim wants to invest enough cash, the perfect replacement voices would be Christopher Lloyd and Michael J Fox.
Yes, why wait until the allegations are resolved? Definitely fire the guy now, despite his claim of innocence, on the basis of unproven accusations! I’m survived domestic violence, and I can attest that it is a very messy business, and can be difficult to unwind and apportion blame. In states like California, if someone calls the cops for DV, they are REQUIRED to arrest someone (it’s the “OJ Rule”). More than once I called the cops, only to have them arrive and try to decide which of us would be arrested, with my abuser insisting I was the one who was throwing the punches.Absolute bullshit to prejudge a situation like this and end someone’s career over unproven allegations.
I will reiterate: Billy West is about to have his hands full.
We could have had more Venture Bros and Metalocalypse but nooooooo we had to triple down on Toxic Meta Bullshit, The Show (which I do enjoy when it’s not spitting on fan theories or has its head up its butt with Story Lord)
Call me an a-hole, but if Hitler did a great voice on a show I would still enjoy it, or Stalin, or Kony, or any other scum, so I will continue to watch the old seasons (so I really hope they don’t go back and dub over Rick and Morty in the old seasons) but I completely understand changing the voices going forward…but who cares really anyways, the show got “meh” starting with the 4th season and only the first 2 are truly great….so no big loss, maybe this will give the show a new breath of life and a new direction. My guess is Rick and Morty will be killed and replaced by versions from another universe, thus explaining the voice change….they will probably look identical but it would he a good chance to switch how they looked a bit… but I guess that is bad for the merch.