Until this January, Justin Roiland voiced both Rick and Morty in the Adult Swim animated television series of the same name. However, after he was accused of sexual misconduct and domestic violence, Adult Swim fired him from the show he co-created. He was later cleared of the allegations due to insufficient evidence but that didn’t change his employer’s decision.
Following Roiland’s dismissal, Adult Swim announced they would recast his roles. The big question on all of our minds was, “Can these new voices capture the essence of Rick and Morty?” Even though producer Steve Levy assured fans they will cast actors with similar voices in the roles, we had our fingers crossed and hoped they wouldn’t mess up the show.
We finally have a clue, though. This year, Rick and Morty will be back on our screens for its seventh season and, ahead of the show’s release in October, Adult Swim has dropped a trailer that gives us our first bite of the new voices.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKYJ5AIOU9I
The trailer kicks off with a hilarious scene that sees Rick transformed into a leg – and that is when we hear the first of the two voices. It’s uncannily similar to the Rick we know and love and it calls out, “Hey look, Morty, I’m a leg! I’m a leg, Morty!”
Morty sounds even better and we can hardly tell that there’s been a change in the voice actors as the trailer rolls on.
By the way, Adult Swim has refused to reveal the names of the voice actors who will be stepping into Roiland’s shoes. It intends to keep their identities a secret until the show debuts next month.
While we don’t see the reason for Adult Swim’s hide-and-seek with the actor’s names, we think the trailer release, with the new voices taking centerstage, is a good decision. If nothing else, it shows that Roiland’s exit won’t impact the show by much.
For one, nothing else has changed with the characters beyond their voices. As we said, even that sounds ridiculously like Roiland’s voice acting. Many of the show’s fans agree although some have pointed out that the Morty actor is more spot on with his portrayal than the Rick actor.
The new voices aside, the trailer promises an exciting new season of the adult animated show. The glimpses we see of the duo’s inter-dimensional adventures look like a rollercoaster of excitement and we can’t wait to see it.
One more thing, there are rumors that Adult Swim’s anime adaptation of the show, titled Rick and Morty: The Anime Series, will arrive this fall. If this happens, fans of the show everywhere who also like Japanese animation style will certainly rejoice. However, there is no official confirmation at this point and we are better off taking the rumors with a pinch of salt.
Rick and Morty Season 7 premieres on Adult Swim on October 15.
