Posted in: Adult Swim, Preview, Rick and Morty, TV | Tagged: Adult Swim, dan harmon, Justin Roiland, rick and morty, Scott Marder
Rick and Morty Season 7 Won't Address Justin Roiland/New Voice Actors
Rick and Morty co-creator Dan Harmon explained why there won't be jokes or references to Justin Roiland or the new voice actors in Season 7.
By the time the credits rolled on the seventh season opener of Adult Swim's Rick and Morty, the biggest question had been answered. Ian Cardoni (WWE WrestleMania narrator) is Rick Sanchez & Harry Belden (Joe Pera Talks With You) is Morty Smith (with their IMDB profiles hyperlinked) – with the voice actors officially replacing Justin Roiland. In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Showrunner Scott Marder & writer/voice actor/co-creator Dan Harmon covered a number of topics pertaining to the new voice cast members, the casting process, Roiland's departure having very little creative impact, and how things worked out to guarantee that the Emmy Award-winning animated would be back on our screens in October. But for a show that's been known to sharpen its knives on any number of topics – and also calls itself out while doing so – can viewers expect Roiland having been replaced and new voice actors having been hired to be addressed during the seventh season?
"I doubt it. Our metric of absolute success in the transition would be if the hypothetical casual viewer who was out of the loop on any behind-the-scenes drama about the show were to keep right on watching it and say, 'This season's better than the other one' or 'This may be my favorite episode.' If that person is able to continue their journey from the womb to the tomb with 'Rick and Morty' and a furniture-like stability, that is the best we can do in this particular job," Harmon shared, emphasizing the creative team's interest to return the focus back to the characters & stories – something that jokes about the Roiland situation would only make more difficult. "That would preclude being meta and mining this stuff. I used to do that all the time on 'Community.' If you watched 'Community,' you followed along with Tumblr, you were given big insight into my various personality disorders and relationships with fans. This, I don't think, is the right way to play it on this one. We want to suck it up and play it grown-up style and get back to work."