Update October 15: The seventh season premiere of Rick and Morty has come and gone, and with it, name reveals of the actors who have replaced Justin Roiland. Rick Sanchez is voiced by Ian Cardoni, who also has been doing VO for WrestleMania. Morty is now voiced by Harry Belden, who has also appeared on Chicago Med and Joe Pera Talks to You.
Original story follows.
Pickle Rick will never sound the same again. More accurately, future hypothetical appearances of Pickle Rick will be voiced by a different actor because Adult Swim is early in the process of recasting all of Justin Roiland’s voice roles in the hit animated comedy Rick and Morty. The network cut ties with the show’s co-creator after he was charged with two counts of felony domestic violence in January. “Adult Swim has ended its association with Justin Roiland,” read a statement posted to the official Rick and Morty twitter account at the time. “Rick and Morty will continue.” (Roiland was later cleared of these charges.)
Ahead of a recent panel celebrating the show’s tenth anniversary, French publication Première interviewed Adult Swim president Michael Ouweleen and Rick and Morty executive producer Steve Levy, and the pair discussed how exactly Rick and Morty would continue without Roiland’s involvement. “He will be replaced in dubbing,” Ouweleen said, as part of a transcript translated by Uproxx. “Voices are obviously super-important in an animated series. And, of course, none of us wanted to go through what we went through. But I’ve been in animation for a long time, and I know that what makes a series is its different parts coming together. If the voices are obviously a big part, there is also the writing of the characters, their design.” He added that the new voice actor would not simply do an impersonation of Roiland and that he has “reason to believe that the transition will go well.”
Levy compared the situation to that of the cartoon character Bugs Bunny, which has had many voice actors over the years, some he feels have been better than others. “It’s a rather unique situation,” he said. “I even think that for Rick and Morty we will do even better… It will be fine. It’ll be great.” Here’s hoping that whichever new voice actor the network casts is adept at burping his way through words and delivering the words “Oh, geez.”
