Rick and Morty will continue without Rick and Morty's voice.
Adult Swim has severed relations with Justin Roiland, the voice of both Rick and Morty, after he was charged with domestic assault and faced other charges of sexual misconduct. The show is planned to continue without him, but the show will no longer feature his voice.
After the domestic abuse charge was made public, a wave of allegations have since come out against the voice actor. Accusers have posted disturbing texts that they claim were sent to them by Roiland, and fans have reposted old clips of him making unsettling comments about underage girls. These allegations have come to light in the wake of the domestic abuse charge being made public.
The widespread consensus was that Rick and Morty would most certainly be cancelled, and a sizeable portion of the audience was happy about this development despite the fact that it would mean the end of Roiland's career.
This was literally his response to me telling him about my childhood sexual trauma. At the time he was drunk and we were just getting to know each other. In context with all the other information about him out there now - yes he is a fucking insane creep pic.twitter.com/5r4v5CQOAG
— arlo 👽 (@arlocado) January 12, 2023
Sooo with all the Justin Roiland allegations coming out I thought I’d share my dms from 2014.. didn’t think much of it at the time but now with all these girls stories it feels icky 🫣 I didn’t end up hanging out w him but wonder what would have happened if I did pic.twitter.com/e6rCtEci4P
— ♡ Veronika ♡ (@guccibabyydoll) January 13, 2023
Based on the personal accounts of those who have spoken out in reaction to the charges, it would appear that Roiland is the most recent example of a known predator working in the entertainment industry, which may have been a well-known fact for many years.
Adult Swim made it clear on Twitter that the show will go on without him, which makes sense given that the network is not even halfway through their order of seventy episodes for the show (which is one of the most successful titles in the Adult Swim library).
— Rick and Morty (@RickandMorty) January 24, 2023
However, the announcement took many commentators by surprise, and a number of them quickly created memes implying that Rick and Morty's replacement would invariably sound incorrect. Others made jokes about the role going to Chris Pratt, who has a history of being miscast in roles, and he recently took over as the voice of Super Mario.
One of the defining characteristics of Rick and Morty was Roiland's unique vocal performance, which included nervous stammering, high-pitched shrieks, and the occasional belch. Roiland's voice was one of the show's defining features. Roiland provided the voices for a number of the show's ancillary characters as well; his contribution to the success of Rick and Morty was comparable to that of Dan Castellaneta's contribution to The Simpsons.
Fans are infamous for attempting to do impressions of Rick and Morty's voices, which is not really difficult to accomplish given that many people have pointed out that the voices of Rick and Morty are not that difficult to imitate.
A casting director somewhere is about to hear a lot of bad Rick and Morty impressions. Godspeed.
— Brock Baker (@BrockBaker) January 24, 2023
Many people have referred to the wonderful talents of @seankellysays, who is somehow able to perform a pitch-perfect Morty and a pretty solid Rick.
Dan Harmon, who helped create the show Rick and Morty, is one of the few people who can pull off a convincing Rick impression. But Roiland's crazy energy and off-the-wall improvisation will be very tough to recreate, so the programme will have to go through some kind of transition no matter what happens.
The stuttering voice of Roiland, as heard in Adventure Time, Gravity Falls, and most recently in the videogame High on Life, was beginning to grate anyway; his gimmick was becoming old and tired.
Rick and Morty does have the benefit of a multiverse, in addition to the infinite possibilities of sci-fi, which means that there is always the opportunity to reboot either character with a completely different tone and performance, and then explain the difference by having them use an alternate universe identity or a voice modulator.
Even though the charges made against Roiland are extremely upsetting and disheartening, it is comforting to learn that those who work on the programme will be able to keep their jobs, and that the titular duo will continue their travels even though Roiland is no longer a part of them.