Production on Rick and Morty‘s seventh season was a real crucible. 4t323r

First, there were allegations of domestic abuse against series co-creator and voice actor Justin Roiland that led to Adult Swim parting ways with him. Then, the SAG-AFTRA strike began — and prevented actors from honing performances that weren’t already recorded before July.

Regardless, the new season premiered on Oct. 15.

You know who hasn’t said much about the new season? Series co-creator/showrunner Dan Harmon.

Is Dan Harmon still involved with Rick and Morty? 43b2c

Yes, Dan Harmon is now the sole creator leading the series. Although some wondered if Harmon walked away from the show when Roiland was dismissed — or even was fired outright as part of the problematic Roiland crew — sources say the two creators weren’t even on speaking for the last several seasons.

So perhaps Roiland’s dismissal was a nice little gift for Harmon, despite necessitating the recasting of the two lead roles, both of which Roiland voiced himself.

Besides the new voices, the seventh season of Rick and Morty is largely the same show that fans have come to know and love. (There are also rumors that Roiland hadn’t contributed any meaningful content to the series in years, so it may be that the new voices are literally the only difference).

Work on season 8 is already underway, according to sources. Let’s hope a massive comet doesn’t hit Hollywood and screw up that production as well.

It’s official, Rick and Morty is coming back to Adult Swim on October 15, but have they recast the roles of Rick and Morty yet? Well, we couldn’t tell you. Although a new poster has been unveiled, there has been no official word on Justin Roiland’s replacement. At this point, we can only assume that Rick and Morty will be entirely mute for the entirety of the season.

Season 6 ended in December 2022, so by the time Season 7 airs in October, that will be almost a full year with no Rick and Morty and the commotion caused by the claims of domestic violence made against Roiland. Although the case was dismissed earlier this year and the SAG-AFTRA strike has made things more complicated, the Adult Swim team doesn’t seem to be in any rush to rehire him, even if several fans are calling for it.

On the bright side, at least the Season 7 poster promises good things to come from the series, Roiland or not. Although Adult Swim has parted ways with Roiland, the series is scheduled to continue for 10 seasons overall as planned. If it were up to Harmon and Roiland (not so much the latter anymore), Rick and Morty would run until the end of time.

Mark your calendars. That’s Oct. 15. We can expect a casting announcement in the coming months, but if that doesn’t happen, it could go one way or another as to why Adult Swim is keeping the whole thing under wraps. Either Roiland is secretly coming back or the new voice actor isn’t as promising as we hope, so Adult Swim is softening the blow somewhat.

All that remains to be seen, but Rick and Morty dropping in time for Halloween is the biggest treat ever.

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.

While Justin Roiland is facing legal jeopardy for alleged domestic battery, the other half of the original Rick and Morty creative team continues to thrive. Dan Harmon is still working on the main show, is developing new projects, and, in what may be a backhanded compliment, someone over at Fox has said his latest unseen piece could also last over there for multiple decades.

Company representative Michael Thorn makes the comments about the Krapopolis animated series from Harmon, which already has a three season renewal even before its debut, in an article published by Deadline Hollywood. The show is set in ancient Greece and follows humans, gods, and monsters which try to run the world’s first cities. For Thorn, giving it runway not even some new live-action projects get was a no-brainer and apparently, someone out there is going to be a classic and pop culture icon later.

“’If we dream big,’ Thorn added, he predicted one of the central characters could feature on ‘the Mount Rushmore of animated figures’ alongside Fox icons such as Homer Simpson, Bob Belcher and Peter Griffin.”

Certainly, a tall order. Whatever happens, audiences will find out later and those who predict should there is a graveyard of cancelled shows everyone involved with had high hopes for. After all, The Critic is not on the Mount Rushmore today, and neither is Sit Down, Shut Up, Allen Gregory, Murder Police, Bless the Harts, or the Son of Zorn animation and live-action hybrid.

Yes, that last was a very real, and very bizarre show that someone, somewhere thought was worth spending money on. It was cancelled after one season, and critics were lukewarm towards it. Though, to be fair, it was a very original idea with a very talented cast.

Despite the show not yet making its public debut, Dan Harmon‘s animated series, Krapopolis was greenlit to receive a third season. The decision was made by Fox studios, as this decision also shifts the show’s release date to the middle of the year.

According to Deadline, Fox is currently in the UK for the London screenings of the show, in hopes to find some international buyers to air the show. It also reported that Krapopolis‘ public debut has been shifted, turning it into a “four-episode, two-hour block” and will air sometime around mid-2023.

While there are concerns about Fox’s decision to renew the show without public reception, Fox’s President of Scripted Programming, Michael Thorn has faith that Krapopolis will be successful and believes that audiences will find the show’s comedy appealing.

“The 2023-24 season is the perfect launching pad for this highly anticipated and very funny animated comedy, complete with multiple seasons of epic laughs for fans. The more we see from production, the more excited we are about their creativity, story arcs, flawless execution, brilliant voice cast, and ability to pump out episode after episode of astonishing events and outrageous, unexpected hilarity.”

Krapopolis is an animated comedy show set in ancient Greek mythology. According to the show’s official website, it centers around a flawed family of various creatures like Gods, humans, and monsters, who are trying to not kill each other whilst trying to run one of the world’s first’s cities.

Krapopolis is an animated comedy set in mythical ancient Greece from creator Dan Harmon (Rick and Morty) centered on a flawed family of humans, gods and monsters that tries to run one of the world’s first cities without killing each other. As someone trying to build one of the first cities from scratch, King Tyrannis has it harder than most. But you can be king without having to take a bunch of meetings and the constant threat of being poisoned.

A preview for the show was released back in Comic-Con 2022, alongside a trailer that promoted the show’s own NFT and exclusive access to content that may affect the show’s later episodes. Krapopolis stars The IT Club‘s Richard Ayoade and Matt Berry, Ted Lasso’s Hannah Waddingham, Pam Murphy, and Duncan Trussell.

Krapopolis is scheduled to air on Fox on May 2023.

Justin Roiland’s fall from grace has seen nearly everything he’s ever touched get tainted by association, but a new report suggests he may not have been as in charge as he was publicly depicted.

Roiland is accused of serious misconduct which has been described as grooming, as well as facing charges for domestic violence over incidents from a few years prior. A pattern emerged from the allegations of a man who frequently used slurs, and who made sexually repulsive comments to both women and minors.

According to a story from The Hollywood Reporter, there are several moving parts worth noting from Roiland’s removal from Rick and Morty as well as his many other shows. The report details how Roiland may not have actually had any real creative contribution to his series in recent years, with him nearly exclusively doing voice work.

Curiously, his very publicized friendship with Dan Harmon isn’t quite what it seems. The creative duo have not been on speaking for several years, despite how often they’re pictured together for media events as close chums.

“More recently, multiple sources say that Roiland, other than voice work, has not had any meaningful creative presence on any of the series that bear his name. In fact, many of his former colleagues say they haven’t heard from him in years, and when they have, it’s been unpleasant. They note, too, that he hasn’t been on speaking with his Rick and Morty co-creator, Dan Harmon, for multiple seasons, and a substantial number of staffers on that show as well as Solar Opposites and Koala Man have never actually met Roiland, even over Zoom.”

Rick and Morty was confirmed to continue without Roiland’s involvement in late Jan. 2023, although the likelihood of it reaching its previous peaks feels unlikely. Public opinion has turned quickly on the adult animation, with it hard to remove Roiland from the perception of the show.

The series remains available to stream on HBO Max.

More details are coming out about Rick and Morty co-creator Justin Roiland, and it sounds as though his problematic behavior was not limited to alleged domestic incidents and inappropriate interactions with fans.

The Hollywood Reporter spoke with multiple sources behind the scenes at Adult Swim and Hulu, which airs Rick and Morty and Roiland’s other animated series Solar Opposites and Koala Man, respectively, and found that Roiland has barely been involved in the creative process behind voicing the characters in quite some time. And in some cases, it sounds like he barely even did that.

While Roiland and his fellow Rick and Morty co-creator Dan Harmon initially had a good professional rapport together, things apparently soured in the second season when Harmon brought in writers from his NBC sitcom, Community. As the piece details, it didn’t take long for Roiland and his animator buddies to clash with the new creative direction. And during the third season, Roiland mostly had stopped showing up to work altogether.

When Roiland did make an appearance at the office, he reportedly brought chaos with him in the form of his dogs, toys, Kanye West, and even a porn star.

“At some point during the third season of Rick and Morty, multiple sources say Roiland simply stopped showing up — and when he did turn up in the Burbank offices, he’d typically avoid the writers room. In fact, Roiland’s colleagues often knew he was there only because they could hear his dogs. Or they’d hear his remote-control toy car, which had a microphone on top of it, zooming around the office.

At least once, Roiland sent it into the writers room, says a source. ‘You wouldn’t have seen him in weeks, and then you’d see the car come in, which was insane.’ Roiland would make exceptions to bring through famous fans, of which Rick and Morty has legions; at various points, his visitors included Kanye West, the comedians on Impractical Jokers and porn star Riley Reid, who gifted the room a succulent.”

It’s no wonder that Roiland and Harmon have supposedly not been on speaking for “several seasons.” But on the plus side, while all three animated series will be replacing Roiland as a voice actor, it doesn’t seem like his departure will have much of an impact on any of the series associated with his name.

Without question, Adult Swim sitcom Rick and Morty has easily become one of the most popular comedy animation series of all time, notably etching its spot next to The Simpsons and Family Guy. However, all of that success soon came crashing down once it was publicly revealed that co-creator Justin Roiland had been charged with allegations of sexual assault and misconduct. And yet, animosity between Roiland and co-creator Dan Harmon had apparently been boiling over long before allegations were even brought to light.

As per The Hollywood Reporter, Roiland’s creative power and freedom over the shows that he’s been involved with has ceased to exist. The only exception, of course, is his voice work — which has become a major audience attraction in regards to series like Rick and Morty, Koala Man, and Solar Opposites. As a result, Roiland and Harmon have not actually been on speaking for several seasons of the show, despite meeting at a non-profit and creating the series together back in 2013.

Truthfully, this news hardly comes as a surprise, seeing as many entertainment channels — such as Adult Swim and Hulu — have chosen to separate themselves entirely from Roiland in the aftermath of the assault allegations. Unsurprisingly, this move would include Harmon, who likely kept his distance from Roiland for a while now due to strange behavior in the office and uncomfortable situations that Roiland was apparently creating in their work environment.

Still, the ugliness of the entire ordeal has led Rick and Morty stans to wonder if Harmon should also be booted from the show — especially considering the controversy surrounding Harmon’s own actions of the past. Not only that, but if Harmon was aware of Roiland’s behavior, then one has to wonder why he didn’t speak about it all sooner. Either way, it’s probably best that the duo continue to keep their distance.

It goes without saying that the fate of Rick and Morty has been in free fall since allegations of domestic abuse and, shall we say, even less savory rumors have surfaced about series co-creator Justin Roiland. But in somewhat promising news for fans who would like to see the beloved Adult Swim series continue on, apparently the extent of Roiland’s involvement has been greatly exaggerated.

This is according to comedy writer and comic artist Alec Robbins, who fired back at Elon Musk’s bizarre claim that Roiland “is the heart” of Rick and Morty.

On Wednesday, Musk jumped into the fray responding to filmmaker and journalist Tim Pool, who insinuated that it would seemingly be impossible to replace Roiland since he voices Rick and Morty. “He is also the heart of the show,” replied Musk, who once appeared as “Elon Tusk” in the season 4 episode, “One Crew Over the Crewcoo’s Morty.”

Robbins, who currently works for the Squanch Games video game development studio, founded by Roiland in 2016, responded to Musk a short time later.

“To my knowledge, Justin’s only real creative involvement with Rick and Morty since probably season 3 is that he recorded the voices from his own basement,” Robbins wrote, “I’m told he wasn’t welcome in the writers room because of multiple covered-up internal WB investigations re: sexual misconduct.”

In a followup tweet, Robbins added: “And on top of everything else, there are dozens and dozens of screenshotted s of him texting underage girls and telling them how much he wanted to have sex with them. Maybe they can find another heart for the show.”

Well, there you go. We couldn’t imagine anything much more spot on than Justin Roiland recording the voices for Rick and Morty from his own basement — but as long as an adequate replacement, or replacements, is chosen, it sounds like the series is going to be just fine. Well perhaps not fine, but okay enough to at least finish out season 7 and give fans a serviceable ending.

It probably would be the understatement of the century if we say 2023 hasn’t exactly been off to a great start for Rick and Morty.

The show kickstarted the year with news of its now infamous co-creator Justin Roiland set to face a domestic violence trial, followed by the revelation of many alleged vulgar messages he sent to women, including a teenage fan. Though he kept a stony silence against the rising furor in wake of the allegations, Adult Swim (the network behind the show) eventually took the extreme decision to cut ties with Roiland and instead continue moving forward with Dan Harmon as the sole show runner. But was it the right decision?

Letting Roiland go was paramount for Adult Swim for a number of reasons. It helped to assure everyone that the actor’s status as co-creator was not going to shield him from his problematic past, it finally addressed the situation after keeping mum since it kicked off, and it disengaged Roiland’s shredded reputation from the show to save it from being doomed as well. Perhaps most importantly, to Adult Swim at least, it also ensured that the network itself doesn’t get boycotted—which wouldn’t bode well for its other shows—because they were not taking the needed action. 

While Adult Swim’s decision has been lauded by many, it does little to dampen the reality that diffusing the situation is one complicated minefield.

Is ending Rick and Morty’s association with Justin Roiland enough? 3z5q40

The show is and will remain Justin Roiland’s brainchild. Roiland’s removal from the animated series is seen by many as justice rightfully served, but the continuation of a show that he helped conceptualize and aided in thriving might not bring much relief to those who were on the receiving end of his misdeeds and vulgar messages. 

Then again, shutting the show down altogether wouldn’t be doing right by the countless individuals who have worked hard for years to make Rick and Morty the reigning success it has been for so long.

No, we are not attempting to stay on both sides of the coin—we are just trying to show how one man’s toxic actions have affected countless individuals, whether they were directly distressed by him or got caught up in the aftereffects of his fallout. In this precarious situation, Adult Swim most probably did the best it could—severing all ties with the 42-year-old actor and writer who voiced both Rick and Morty as well as other side characters in the series.

Does Dan Harmon deserve to remain with Rick and Morty? l43y

Then there is the issue of co-creator Dan Harmon remaining attached to future seasons of Rick and Morty, which isn’t exactly seen as the perfect solution Adult Swim deems it to be. His own controversial past also riled up a significant amount of public ire in wake of the social media chaos surrounding Roiland. In early 2018, Harmon found himself in a rabbit hole after he publicly itted that he sexually harassed Megan Ganz—one of the staff writers on the show Community—who he was obsessed with.

We are not here to decide whether Harmon truly deserves a chance to move on from his past. But given the fact that Ganz—whose life went through a dire rollercoaster because Harmon couldn’t rein in his obsession with her and was the one who outed him publicly on Twitter—has forgiven him. She made it explicitly clear that she accepts his apology, which she called a “masterclass in How to Apologize.” She highlighted how Harmon didn’t defend himself or try to justify his actions—he outright itted his toxic ways of dealing with the fact that Ganz refused to reciprocate his feelings. 

Ganz forgiving and accepting Harmon’s apology is, more or less, what one would define as “enough” of a quick fix for Adult Swim to avoid dealing with the alternative of losing both the creators of Ricky and Morty. Also, there is the fact that firing Harmon as well might lead to a massive blowout from fans, as he has nowhere near faced the high magnitude of backlash Roiland has faced.

In an era where celebrities either don’t address their toxic past or put forward a thinly veiled not-really-sorry apology, Harmon owning up to his problematic behavior might just be enough to tip the scales in his favor.

As you can’t have failed to notice, one of the most defining sci-fi TV series of the past decade has lost its co-creator and star. In a completely unsurprising move, in the face of his reputation taking a nosedive after domestic abuse charges and disturbing resurfaced DMs, Adult Swim has elected to part ways with Rick and Morty creator Justin Roiland. And yet the popular animated show will continue. So who will replace Roiland as the voices of the two titular characters? Fans have some thoughts…

Rick and Morty recasting suggestions range from the absurd to the ingenious 66644k

The task of finding someone(s) new to take over from Roiland as Rick and Morty will be a mammoth-sized undertaking for Adult Swim, but at least the fans are helping them out by throwing some suggestions at the wall. Well, some of them are genuinely great ideas, such as fellow network star Michael Cusack, while others are instances of social media s being unable to contain their inner troll. Could Chris Pratt follow up The Super Mario Bros. Movie by being our new Rick and Morty? No, no he couldn’t.

Justin Roiland’s fall from grace has been so complete that there’s little in the way of diehard fans campaigning to get Adult Swim to rehire him. In fact, the exact opposite has happened. Rick and Morty viewers are calling for the network to completely clean house and cut ties with co-creator Dan Harmon at the same time. While not hit with the same severity of damning evidence as his former colleague, Harmon himself is no stranger to controversy and scandal after he itted to sexually harassment accusations in the past. It remains to be seen whether he’ll be sticking around for season seven or not.

The star of a cancelled Netflix series that nobody’s mourning valiantly attempts to defend it 2b645x

Netflix has earned the ire of the internet many times over the past year for cancelling a beloved series before its time — from Warrior Nun to Inside Job. However, one decision that not a single soul shed a tear over was the news that Resident Evil wouldn’t be back for a sophomore run. Nonetheless, star Ella Balinska has stepped forward to defend the failed reboot of the post-apocalyptic video game universe, maintaining that it was “an amazing story” that she’s “super-proud” of. Good for her.

Rebel Moon star hypes up Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon as a beautiful, action-packed epic 6w1g5j

One movie that’s risen up to catch the attention of genre fans everywhere is the erotic sci-fi horror Infinity Pool, coming out this week. One of the film’s stars, Cleopatra Coleman, just happens to also be part of another of the year’s big stand-alone sci-fi releases — Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon — which hits Netflix this December. Snyder faithfuls can rest assured this one will live up to expectation as Coleman is promising that it’s a “beautiful… epic” and she’s sure people will “really love the action.”

Beam back here tomorrow, sci-fi fans, as we bring you more of the latest news on Rick and Morty, Rebel Moon, and beyond.

The future of Rick and Morty is in turmoil, as Adult Swim parts ways with one problematic creator, but keeps another on.

Justin Roiland was a staple of the adult animated show before his various misdeeds saw the program cut ties with the 42-year-old actor and writer. Roiland, who voiced both Rick and Morty on the popular series—along with various side characters—is officially out, but his co-creator remains attached to future seasons. Dan Harmon isn’t facing quite the pushback Roiland was, but the recent focus on Rick and Morty is bringing his own problematic history to the surface.

Roiland’s career took a major blow over the last few weeks, after details about inappropriate interactions with various people, as well as domestic violence charges, emerged. He’s since been removed from the Rick and Morty team, as well as Squanch Games, but Dan Harmon—Roiland’s partner—remains.

This doesn’t seem like a great idea, if you ask the horde of Rick and Morty fans out there. Harmon’s own problematic tendencies also came to light during Roiland’s ousting, and—while fewer concerning comments about minors emerged—Harmon is no saint himself. The Community creator has been in hot water before, after he became obsessed with, and sexually harassed, one of his female writers.

This history, paired with Roiland’s recently-unveiled behavior, has many fans begging for an entirely new Rick and Morty team. News that Harmon will remain attached to the project, even as Roiland departs, is pushing fans to urge Adult Swim in a new direction. They’d like to see Harmon removed from the team as well, and a pair of fresh, unproblematic creatives hired in he and Roiland’s place.

Twitter is awash with viewer pleas to remove Harmon from the Rick and Morty team—and maybe even the Community movie.

The conversation surrounding Harmon is a bit more complex than that surrounding Roiland, largely due to a years-old apology. After word spread of his harassment of a writer, Harmon made a lengthy public apology that was called a “masterclass in How to Apologize” by Megan Gaz, the writer in question. She publicly accepted his apology, and things were seemingly smoothed over for Harmon.

Fans of the 50-year-old sitcom aficionado are leaning on his 2018 apology as proof that Harmon learned from his mistakes, but its far from enough to convince everyone. Pair this with frequent complaints about Harmon’s seeming obsession with incest, and quite a few Rick and Morty fans would be delighted to see him removed from future seasons.

As of now, Harmon is still set to remain as a staple of Rick and Morty‘s creative team. His apology seems to be enough for Adult Swim, and the show’s certainly never shied away from incest before. Unless more allegations against Harmon come to light over the next few months, it seems likely that Harmon is here to stay.