Rick and Morty Season 7 kicked off its run on Adult Swim with new voice actors behind the voices of the titular two characters, and the new stars have finally opened up about what the toughest part of their new job is! It was announced ahead of Season 7 that Adult Swim would be parting ways with series co-creator and former voice behind Rick and Morty, Justin Roiland. This then kicked off a recasting process before the new season premiered, so it’s likely been quite the hectic few months for the new stars behind it all as they essentially jumped into the deep end.
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Rick and Morty Season 7 announced that Ian Cardoni would be the new voice of Rick Sanchez and Harry Belden would be the new voice behind Morty Smith, and the two stars finally opened up about joining the series in a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter. Coming in ahead of an already done Season 7 and needing to match what was already done, the two stars explained that the hardest part of the job so far has not only been improving their own voices but trying to “doing justice” to the writing.
Rick and Morty’s New Voice Actors Adjust to the Job
When asked about the toughest aspect to get for each of their characters, “I’m sure you mean vocally, but more than the voice itself, it’s doing justice to the writing we’re given,” Cardoni answered. “Everything in the script is so deliberate and intentional. We’re not always privy to where the story is going to go, but there is a story that we’re responsible for telling, and each time I record that’s the chief responsibility in my mind. But vocally, during an early session, I got the note that I needed to be more of an asshole to the other characters. Having to open up that side of myself to access those parts of me that live in Rick and vice versa was my big challenge.”
Belden felt the same noting, “The writing on the show is so tight and so precise that I read the scripts and get lost in the story.” Continuing further with, “It’s a challenge to remind myself, ‘You might want to do it this one way, but let’s make sure we explore all the possibilities.’ For me, vocally, it was the F-word. I had a little bit of a vocal dip going lower on the ‘u.’ So, I spent dozens of hours and dropped thousands of F-bombs, drilling the F-word over and over and over again.”
Belden was also surprised at how layered of a character Morty was, “Also, something that surprised me about Morty is how multifaceted he is as a character. When I was reading the scripts, I could see Morty playing a scene so many different ways. There was a fairly long scene between Rick and Morty we did a couple different ways because we genuinely didn’t know what the most honest reaction for Morty would be. So, we tried one way that was solicitous and sweet and another that was confrontational and angry, and afterward thought, ‘Both of those are both great.’ I don’t know which we’re going to wind up using.”
How are you feeling about Rick and Morty’s new voice actors 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!
