The New Rick And Morty Voices Are Young, Unknown Actors
When the first trailer for "Rick and Morty" season 7 debuted earlier this week, it came with a new set of voices for the animated show's titular characters. Earlier this year, "Rick and Morty" co-creator Justin Roiland, who also provided the voices for both Rick and Morty, was charged with felony domestic battery in connection with a 2020 incident. Though Roiland was cleared of charges due to insufficient evidence, there were also other allegations and accusations of inappropriate behavior elsewhere, which resulted in Adult Swim severing ties with Roiland creatively. Thankfully, Roiland apparently hadn't been involved much with the show's trajectory behind the scenes in recent years, having been preoccupied with other projects, so the show's writing and production wouldn't suffer. But when it came to the show's voices, Adult Swim needed a replacement to voice Rick and Morty — and they found two.
In a recent profile of "Rick and Morty" co-creator Dan Harmon by The Hollywood Reporter, it's confirmed that Adult Swim has hired two young, unknown voice actors for Rick and Morty. It's a solution that Harmon indicated that he mostly stayed away from, but for a reason you might not expect. Harmon explained:
"It's all just sad, because the goal is for it to be indistinguishable, at the same time, it would be absurd to suddenly decide that the entire foundation of your creative project was, oh, coincidentally, unimportant."
Ricks and Mortys
It's easy to understand the sort of creative existential crisis that Harmon found himself in here. After all, it's gotta be strange to see that an element of the show that was deemed so integral to its existence and success has now simply been replaced with two unknown actors. Of course, you can't deny Roiland's part in creating the characters and series with Harmon, but still, knowing that two new actors have replaced this part of his contribution to the show without missing a beat has to feel a bit odd.
As for the replacement actors, they've yet to be named by Adult Swim. We'll likely find out who they are when the credits roll on the seventh season premiere of "Rick and Morty." Based on the trailer, they seem to have filled in for Roiland rather well. Morty sounds the most accurate, and Rick is mostly right on the money. But there are moments here and there when you can tell it's not the original voice. In the case of both voices, there's a certain frantic nature that Roiland brought to the proceedings. That likely came from Roiland's freedom to be improvisational, as one of the show's executive producers. It's very likely that these new actors won't have the same creative freedom to wander and vary their delivery in the same way, making their portrayal feel slightly less chaotic. The real test will be seeing a full episode with the new actors in place.
"Rick and Morty" season 7 premieres on Adult Swim starting on October 15, 2023 at 11 p.m. ET/PT.