Why did Rick and Morty get new voices? Why Justin Roiland was replaced, explained

A new season of Rick and Morty is on its way, arriving to Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim next month. However, you may be wondering if the word on the street that you’ve been hearing about is true: Did the show really replace original voice actor and co-creator Justin Roiland as the titular characters? And if so, why?

First off, it is absolutely true that Roiland and Rick and Morty have gone their separate ways. However, was this a firing, or simply a matter of “creative differences?” Well, a statement by the official Rick and Morty Twitter (now X) account indicated back in January that “Adult Swim has ended its association with Justin Roiland.” This seems to point to Roiland being let go, rather than him quitting the show. The statement continued: “Rick and Morty will continue / The talented and dedicated crew are hard at work on Season 7.” But why did this happen to begin with?

Justin Roiland’s allegations and legal troubles

The announcement of Roiland’s firing came more than a week after the voice actor and animator appeared in court on felony charges of domestic battery, with corporal injury and false imprisonment by menace, violence, fraud, and/or deceit. All of this allegedly stemmed from a 2020 incident involving a woman who Roiland said to be dating at the time, but who was not publicly identified.

Those two domestic violence charges against Roiland were later dropped back in March. However, new allegations have since surfaced claiming that Roiland engaged in sexual talks online with three different 16-year-old fans. As NBC reported, nine people in total claimed that conversations online with fans turned sexual, with some of the individuals providing “pictures, videos, social media posts, emails, and plane tickets and Uber receipts” to the outlet.

A couple of the women, who were both 20, alleged they did end up meeting up with Roiland. In one case, a woman claimed she was sexually assaulted by him. Another woman said she felt Roiland took advantage of her through the use of alcohol, the report said. The two women also provided NBC with text messages from Roiland apologizing for each sexual encounter. Roiland’s lawyer has called the allegations “false and defamatory.”

New voices for Rick and Morty

Suffice it to say, while Rick and Morty has chosen to continue without Roiland, which is probably for the best given all of the allegations, they did have to recast the main characters. The season 7 teaser revealed the new voices for both Rick and Morty, this time being portrayed by two individual actors rather than one person, as it was with Roiland. While we don’t yet know who the new actors are that will be playing Rick and Morty, we know from the lack of a British accent that it probably isn’t Dan Stevens, despite what the internet might suggest. With that said, Stevens did take over Roiland’s role on the Hulu series Solar Opposites.

Rick and Morty season 7 debuts on Adult Swim on Oct. 15.