The ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike is putting a stop to many Hollywood productions, and Rick and Morty fans are worried the actors’ strike will be the latest in a series of hurdles that season 7 of the animated comedy must overcome. It seems that the series still needs to recast its two lead roles after the dismissal of series creator and voice actor Justin Roiland.
In August 2020, Roiland was arrested in Orange County, California, and charged with domestic battery and false imprisonment related to an alleged incident involving an unnamed romantic partner, according to NBC News.
Once the news became public in January 2023, other people came forward with stories about Roiland acting inappropriately. Adult Swim announced earlier this year that it had fired Roiland from Rick and Morty, and that his roles would be recast in future seasons.
Although Roiland’s domestic abuse charges have been dismissed, the writer/producer/performer is still dogged by a number of inappropriate DMs that were made public, which he originally sent to women and minors.
Roiland was dismissed from other projects as well, including Hulu’s adult animated series Solar Opposites, which he also created and performed in. Hulu swiftly recast the role of the grumpy alien Korvo, putting British heartthrob Dan Stevens (Downton Abbey) in the sound booth instead.
However, there’s been no news of Adult Swim officially recasting the characters of Rick and Morty, leading many to speculate that none of their lines for the upcoming season have been recorded yet.
Although Rick and Morty executive producer Steve Levy recently assured fans that the writers’ strike would not affect season 7 of the series, he presumably cannot make the same claim about the SAG-AFTRA strike: Voice actors are among the many who have walked off the job to earn better residuals under streaming, secure easier access to health care, and give a big middle finger to studios’ AI proposals.
We suppose it’s possible that Adult Swim secretly hired one or two voice actors to play the lead characters a few months ago, but that’s the sort of thing networks like to publicize in order to get people excited for what’s to come (and to show that they are taking the Roiland situation seriously). We’re definitely open to a season where Rick and Morty speak in loud alien screams the entire time, but we doubt that’s the strategy here.
Unfortunately, we’ll have to assume Rick and Morty season 7 is delayed until we get further updates from the showrunners or Adult Swim. The good news is that, once we finally do get a new batch of episodes, the next season should be hot on their heels: Levy said recently that season 8 is already “fully written.”