Summary
- Rick and Morty season 7's decision to replace Justin Roiland with sound-alike voice actors is seen as a missed opportunity for the show to reinvent itself and deviate from its established formula.
- Ignoring Roiland's departure and not addressing the change in the show's meta-humor style risks inconsistency and draws more attention to the recasting situation.
- The use of sound-alike actors may risk reducing Rick and Morty to their cartoony selves and potentially result in episodes that feel too silly and lacking in the show's usual balanced comedy.
The news that Rick and Morty season 7 will replace Justin Roiland with sound-alike voice actors is bad for a variety of reasons. In January 2023, Rick and Morty voice actor Justin Roiland was accused of domestic violence. In the following weeks, Adult Swim cut ties with Roiland and announced that production would continue on Rick and Morty season 7. Roiland voiced both Rick and Morty in the first six seasons of the series, so replacing the actor looked like a difficult task. As such, commentators online debated how the show’s creative team should handle the change, with some saying it should be ignored and others arguing it should be directly addressed.
While handling Roiland’s replacement(s) was something Rick and Morty season 7 needed to address, the creators of the series don’t intend to focus on the change going forward. At San Diego Comic-Con 2023, Rick and Morty executive producer Steven Levy said that “sound-alikes” would provide the voices of Rick and Morty in new episodes. Levy further clarified by saying, “characters are the same characters...no change.” Despite the applause from SDCC attendees, the decision to replace Roiland with sound-alike voice actors is not necessarily the best route for the show to take.
6 Rick & Morty’s Meta Nature Makes Roiland’s Exit Harder To Explain
Even within the self-referential world of cartoon comedy, Rick and Morty is not an ordinary show. The sci-fi satire features an inordinate amount of fourth-wall breaks and self-reflexive humor. Sometimes Rick and Morty’s meta-moments are limited to a throwaway line about the network or the show's own canon. However, there are also episode-long excursions into ambitiously meta-storytelling. This playful, self-aware tone allowed Roiland’s other show Solar Opposites to mock the actor’s exit, but this same style makes it impossible for Rick and Morty season 7 to simply ignore Roiland’s abrupt replacement. The show can’t just drop its self-referential tone when it proves inconvenient.
In the past, Rick and Morty has constantly acknowledged the fact that it's a TV show, so ignoring this huge casting change would prove inconsistent. The change of voice actors doesn’t need to bring the entire series to a halt, but the new voices of Rick and Morty warrant an in-show nod. Even viewers who aren't aware of Roiland's departure will inevitably notice the difference in Rick and Morty’s voices. Previously, the series has criticized its own storytelling, animation, and character work over the years, which means injecting some meta-humor about Roiland's absence is a must.
5 Roiland’s Rick & Morty Season 7 Recasting Was An Exciting Opportunity
Rick and Morty season 7 could have taken its two title characters in any number of new directions in light of the recasting. When Big Mouth season 4 gracefully replaced Jenny Slate’s Missy with a new version of the character played by Ayo Edebiri, the series focused an entire episode on this changeover instead of trying to hide the switch. Rick and Morty season 7 must break with a lot of the show’s existing traditions to succeed. Directly addressing Roiland's departure would have been a great way to initiate a new approach.
Attempts to ignore the change feel like a refusal to diverge from the show's formula, which is dispiriting. Big Mouth's decision to replace Slate with a new actor was used as a springboard for the show to try something new. If the critical drubbing of Rick and Morty season 6, episode 9, "A Rick in King Mortur's Mort," is anything to go by, season 7 of the series needs a similar reinvention of the show's status quo. Roiland's exit initially offered the series a golden chance to change up its formula, but this opportunity has been seemingly squandered.
4 Replicating Rick & Morty’s Voices Won’t Be Easy
Copying Roiland’s delivery is a big ask for any voice actor. It's made all the more difficult by the series' refusal to concede that there's a difference between the season 6 and 7 versions of the characters. Edebiri’s version of Missy was a departure from Slate's, which allowed the newly cast actor to make the role her own. If Big Mouth’s writing team had refused to acknowledge the seismic shift behind the scenes, Edebiri might not have had the chance to bring nuance and her own brand of humor to Missy. Ironically, the Rick and Morty team's insistence on ignoring the change only draws more attention to it.
3 Rick & Morty's Recasting Plan Actually Makes Roiland's Exit A Bigger Issue
The fact that Rick and Morty’s creators feel the need to gloss over Roiland’s absence illustrates a lack of confidence in taking the series in bold new directions. By refusing to address the exit, Rick and Morty season 7 makes Roiland’s departure seem like an even bigger deal than if the series' team had simply acknowledged an in-show shift. In fact, Rick and Morty already has an in-universe explanation for the voice actor switch, so seizing that opportunity, joking about the change, and then moving on would lessen the perceived impact of the whole recasting situation.
2 Ignoring Rick & Morty's Recasting Wastes A Great Joke
Rick and Morty season 7 could have done an episode featuring various celebrity guest stars voicing the two title characters in rapid succession via a silly self-referential plot device. Whether it’s Rick and Morty jumping from one reality to another or accidentally cloning themselves and losing track of their original iterations, the show has plenty of ways to create a situation for new voice actors to take on the titular roles. Rick and Morty’s earlier episode “Mortyplicity” tapped into this premise years before Roiland’s exit. Even so, Rick and Morty season 7 is on track to waste this chance by ignoring the change.
1 Rick & Morty Risks Parodying Itself By Using Sound-Alikes
Most of Rick and Morty’s best viral imitators are famous for mocking the worst excesses of Roiland’s performances. As such, hiring sound-alike actors to impersonate Roiland risks reducing Rick and Morty to their most cartoony selves. In turn, this could result in episodes of Rick and Morty that feel too broad and silly as opposed to the show’s usual balance of chaotic improv and controlled comedy. The worst mistake in Rick and Morty season 6 was the show’s inability to take its dramatic Rick Prime story seriously. This issue could be worsened if Rick and Morty season 7 focuses on exaggerated, goofier versions of the show’s protagonists.