‘The pill was hard to swallow’: ‘Rick and Morty’ executive producer dishes on the firing of Justin Roiland

To be quite honest, when I found out Justin Roiland was leaving Rick and Morty — I could have sworn we were living in an alternate reality. Seriously, would it be so strange that we just happen to be in a universe where Justin Roiland got the boot? With so many different versions of Rick out there, I certainly wouldn’t be surprised.

Following Roiland’s very public ousting over allegations of domestic violence (to which he has since pled not guilty), the iconic Adult Swim show made the mind-blowing promise to continue without one of its masterminds.

Having Rick and Morty go on without Justin Roiland has kept many fans on edge, and who can blame them? Roiland voiced both Rick and Morty, it stands to reason people would be spooked. Frankly, they should be.

Still, that hasn’t stopped the show’s executive producer Steve Levy and Adult Swim president Michael Ouweleen from having a bit of hope. The pair recently sat down with Premiere at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival to finally discuss Roiland’s absence, the future of the franchise, and how they’re continuing to tell great stories in spite of it all.

Steve Levy seems to understand how hard it is to navigate the Rick and Morty mythos post-Roiland, yet believes that his removal has given birth to a slew of creative breakthroughs.

“The pill was hard to swallow. We were shocked and disturbed by what happened. But we stuck together and we put all our energy into the series. We decided to stay positive, and in the end we produced the best drawings, scripts and animations of the entire series. Dan Harmon (co-creator of Rick and Morty) has always been in the trenches with us, every step of the way. He always has an eye on everything, and sometimes that means he asks us to rewrite entire scripts, but for the good of the series. He never walked away after Justin left.”

Let’s be honest, the only thing that saved Rick and Morty from total inhalation had to have been Dan Harmon. After all, he created Community, wrote Monster House, and has remains one of Hollywood’s most unique comedic voices. Roiland’s other half, Harmon is a seasoned storyteller with the chops required to continue the show — and thank goodness he wanted to.

Michael Ouweleen also chimed in with his thoughts on the situation, and remained surprisingly calm about the whole thing.

“There’s no guide on how to react to this stuff. And it’s not normal to experience that. Of course it’s hard, of course it hurts. But when a whole team works on a series, the series actually becomes more important than one person. Season 7 will be pivotal, we know it, but I think we’ve never done better so far.”

Let’s call a spade a spade here; Justin Roiland leaving Rick and Morty sucked. How could it have not? He created the show over a little less than a decade ago, and without him — who knows? We might never have gotten Pickle Rick, Mr. Poopie Butthole, or Interdimensional Cable. Think of the chaos.

For now we can all be thankful that the show has remained in good hands after everything, and judging by the confidence of those involved, I have a feeling we’re in for a real treat when season seven comes out.