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Adult Swim’s hit animated series Rick and Morty co-creator Justin Roiland, who also voiced Rick Sanchez and Morty Smith on the show, has been let go from the series after six seasons. His dismissal came in the wake of domestic abuse charges against him over an incident in January 2020.
On Tuesday, January 24, Adult Swim/Cartoon Network/Boomerang Senior VP Communications Marie Moore said in a statement,
“Adult Swim has ended its association with Justin Roiland.”
The roles of lead characters “Rick” and “Morty” will soon be recast, and fans already have their pick for the parts.
Fans pick Chris Pratt as the new Rick and Morty voice star
Chris Pratt continuously tried his luck in the late 2010s, but he didn’t find true success until Parks and Recreation. He shot to stardom when he was cast as Star-Lord in Guardians of the Galaxy. Since then, he has appeared in several successful MCU and Jurassic World movies alongside his recent Prime Video series, The Terminal List.
He is also known for lending his voice to multiple animated projects. People loved him in The LEGO Movie(s) and Onward. Now, 2023 will bring The Super Mario Bros. Movie, where Pratt is voicing the titular character. Following this outing, he will also lend his talent to Garfield, the cat in 2024’s Garfield movie.
After these two castings, he became a popular meme choice for the fans who pitched him to star in any and every movie. So, now that there is an opportunity to recast both Rick and Morty, Chris Pratt is once again the top choice of fans.
People aren’t just picking him as a joke. They want him because they believe he possesses a great talent for voice acting.
The Guardians of the Galaxy actor fits the bill for these two characters. With his experience and talent, he could surely develop two different kinds of voices for both Rick and Morty. But the important question is, does he have room for it?
Rick and Morty is set to run until season 10, at the very least. And after 2023’s Super Mario and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Pratt will appear in 2024’s Garfield and a movie called The Electric State. He’d also return in at least one of the next two Avengers movies. So, he would have to make some space in his tight schedule every year for the next 3-4 years.
It is tough but not impossible. So, it’ll be interesting to see whether he ends up playing at least one character out of Rick and Morty, if not both!
What was Justin Roiland accused of?
In 2020, Justin Roiland was accused of domestic abuse by an anonymous woman who was dating him at the time. He was charged with “one felony count of domestic battery on a spouse/cohabitant with corporal injury and one felony count of false imprisonment by menace, violence, fraud, and/or deceit.” He appeared at a pre-trial hearing on January 13, 2023, and pleaded not guilty.
Following his abuse charges, Rick and Morty’s Twitter page announced that Adult Swim has ended its association with Roiland. He will still be credited as the series' co-creator, but co-creator Dan Harmon will continue as the lone showrunner in the coming seasons.
Adult Swim’s hit animated series is expected to go all the way up to season 10, and the roles of Rick and Morty will continue with a new actor.
