Rick and Morty Execs Explain Why Replacing Justin Roiland Was Difficult

Rick and Morty made a massive change to the series following its firing of co-creator and voice star Justin Roiland from the production ahead of Season 7, and the minds behind the series opened up about why replacing Roiland was a difficult and lengthy process. Rick and Morty Season 7 had a lot of fans curious to see the new episodes as it would be the first season without Roiland voicing the titular duo, but those behind the scenes were definitely feeling the stresses of the proposition as it was tougher to find new voice actors than they had originally thought. 

Speaking about the casting process for Rick Sanchez and Morty Smith with The Hollywood Reporter, Rick and Morty Season 7 showrunner Scott Marder explained that replacing Roiland ended up being a tricky process that they needed to audition thousands of people for as “No one sounded exactly like Rick.” Even tougher was finding those who could maintain the voices through lengthy periods and all of the character demands that Rick and Morty has of its stars moving forward. 

Rick and Morty: Why Replacing Justin Roiland Was Difficult

Rick and Morty has announced that Ian Cardoni will be the new voice behind Rick and Harry Belden will be the new voice behind Morty, and showrunner Scott Marder revealed how tough of a process to find them it really was, “It was harder than we thought. I thought it’d have been easier. Rick was a lot harder than I expected; everyone sounded like Macho Man Randy Savage or like a cousin of his. No one sounded exactly like Rick. It was tricky. People had it in splashes but once you bring them back in, they couldn’t do it conversationally, which is what we needed. It was exhaustive.”

Rick and Morty co-creator Dan Harmon also spoke on this difficulty as the new actors needed to find a right balance for their respective characters for what’s to come for them in the future, “It’s one thing to match an impression — can you do George W. Bush as well as Dana Carvey but can you then do it if you’re not saying, ‘Not gonna do it.’ It was trying to strike this crazy balance; this character has to be angry, sad, despondent and all those things.”

Rick and Morty debuted its new voice stars with Season 7’s premiere, so what did you think of them so far? Let us know all of your thoughts about it in the comments! You can even reach out to me directly about all things animation and other cool stuff @Valdezology on Twitter!

HT – THR