Three years after Justin Roiland was fired from Rick and Morty, fellow co-creator Dan Harmon has taken a candid look back at this turn of events.
In January 2023, one month after Rick and Morty season 6 ended, it was reported that Roiland had been charged with felony domestic battery and false imprisonment in Orange County, California three years prior. Later that month, Adult Swim severed ties with the Rick and Morty talent, which led to Ian Cardoni and Harry Belden taking over the title roles. This was a better outcome than what Harmon initially envisioned after Roiland was fired from the Adult Swim series.
During an interview on The Daily Beast’s Obsessed podcast, Harmon admitted that his “automatic assumption” at the time was that Rick and Morty would end because Roiland was “the heart of the show.” However, he eventually realized this was a “bad thing in retrospect” after speaking with “like, 20 people” from Rick and Morty at a bar, as they collectively told him, “Well, so we’re going to keep doing this show.” Harmon continued:
But, one of the writers said, like, “What? Why does this get to be his [Roiland] decision? I mean, what does this have to do with the show and the fans and the characters? That — now it all crumbles down like a temple around Samson. Should that be up to him?” And then other people, the leitmotif became, “Be the adult in the room,” which was an insane and ironic thing for it to fall to me. It was like, oh, you got to think about all these other people, think about the fans and the employees. And so, I was like, okay.
In addition to being fired from Rick and Morty, Roiland was also dismissed in January 2023 from the Hulu TV shows Solar Opposites and Koala Man, which he co-created and executive produced, respectively. In the former series, Dan Stevens took over the role of Korvo for its remaining three seasons. By March 2023, the 2020 charges against the former Rick and Morty voice actor, writer, and producer were dismissed due to insufficient evidence. However, the following September, new sexual misconduct and assault allegations were reported about Roiland.
While Cardoni and Belden were tapped to succeed Roiland as Rick Sanchez and Morty Smith, respectively, the rest of Rick and Morty‘s original cast remained intact, i.e. Sarah Chalke as Beth, Chris Parnell as Jerry, and Spencer Grammer as Summer. These days, Harmon now shares Rick and Morty showrunning duties with Scott Marder, who joined the series in season 4. Rick and Morty season 9 concluded this past Sunday, July 26, and the show has been renewed through to season 12.
Additionally, Harmon recently shared with ScreenRant that he and his team are “picking away” at the Rick and Morty movie’s script, with that update following two months after he confirmed that the project was in development. Meanwhile, the new spinoff President Curtis airs new episodes Sundays at 11:30 pm ET on Adult Swim, and can be streamed the day after on HBO Max.
- Release Date
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December 2, 2013
- Network
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Adult Swim
- Directors
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Bryan Newton, Dominic Polcino, Anthony Chun, John Rice, Stephen Sandoval, Jeff Myers
- Writers
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Tom Kauffman, Wade Randolph, Eric Acosta, David Phillips, Erica Rosbe, Sarah Carbiener, Matt Roller, Michael Waldron, Caitie Delaney
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Justin Roiland
Rick Sanchez / Morty Smith