On Jan. 24, Adult Swim announced that the co-creator of “Rick and Morty,” Justin Roiland, was kicked off the show after six seasons and one movie. 

“Rick and Morty,” an animated adult sitcom that is notorious for being funny and simple, was first released on Dec. 2, 2013, by Roiland and Dan Harmon. It aired on Cartoon Network during Adult Swim’s nighttime programming block and is now aired on Adult Swim and HBO Max.

Roiland was accused of a felony count of domestic battery and another of false imprisonment of his then girlfriend in Orange County, California on Jan. 12. During his trial, he pleaded not guilty. Yet the court ruled against him, and was prosecuted. The incident occurred around Jan. 19, 2020, with his anonymous girlfriend. He was arrested and released on a $50,000 bond. This caused him to lose his most iconic job in the TV industry with Adult Swim that made him so popular. 

Roiland was known to voice the two main protagonists of the story, Rick Sanchez and Morty Smith, as well as some iconic characters like Mr. Meeseeks. Roiland’s voice really brought a lot to the characters he voiced and made them personally likable to fans. Despite this, Adult Swim has decided to continue airing the show without Roiland and find a replacement actor to voice in his place. It might have been better to cancel the show though because it would be near impossible to find a replacement for Roiland.

A trend has popped up on TikTok following this charge with users trying to audition for the new vacant role for “Rick and Morty” main characters. Many amazing impressions have appeared from people such as Sean Kelly. Roiland spoke highly of Kelly in an interview with WIRED, saying that his vocal cords are very similar to his and Kelly’s voice for Smith was “eerily on point” to Roiland’s voice, and it’s true. Kelly’s voice is the closest heard on the internet to Roiland and would be the best choice for a replacement. 

It was highlighted by professional voice actor Taylor Abrahamse on TikTok that just because someone can say a catch phrase that Sanchez or Smith said during the show doesn’t mean that they can do it under every single situation. This is one of the issues finding a replacement actor because it’s so difficult to replicate the talent Roiland had in voice acting.

“Rick and Morty” has had a major influence on pop culture in the past 8 years, even having multiple games produced with the characters like “Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality” and “Pocket Mortys.” It’s also appeared in games such as “Fortnite,” “DOTA 2” and “MultiVersus,” which shows how popular it is in the gaming industry. Roiland even had his own gaming company known as Squanch Games that produced classic games like “Accounting,” “Trover Saves the Universe” and “High on Life,” which was released on Dec. 13, 2022.

 On Jan. 24, Squanch Games posted on Twitter that they had received a resignation from Roiland, as he will only bring down the company if he stays with his current reputation. Squanch Games said they will continue to release games and will continue support on “High on Life.”

Roiland hasn’t made a personal statement on social media, and it’s doubtful that will since he barely uses Twitter or Instagram. It’s unlikely for him to show his face online again since more career ending information has been revealed. Roiland will never be able to capture the eyes of the fans that he once did before his trial and the many incidents that occurred beforehand.

Contact Ryder Richardson at [email protected]