Highlights
- Justin Roiland removed as the voice for Rick and Morty in MultiVersus, replaced by Ian Cardoni and Harry Belden.
- Cardoni and Belden also voice Rick and Morty in the TV show.
Upcoming fighting game MultiVersus has had a change of cast, as Justin Roiland, the controversial original voice actor for Rick Sanchez and Morty Smith from the animated series Rick and Morty, has been removed and replaced. The show's current voice actors, Ian Cardoni and Harry Belden, now also play Rick and Morty, respectively, in MultiVersus.
In January 2023, late-night Cartoon Network programming block Adult Swim announced that Roiland, who created the animated series alongside Community creator Dan Harmon, would no longer be associated with Rick and Morty moving forward. This initial action stemmed from the unveiling of felony domestic violence and false imprisonment charges filed against Roiland for an incident that had allegedly occurred three years prior, although those charges were later dismissed.
Rick and Morty Might Be Better Off Without Justin Roiland
Since news of the charges against Justin Roiland have surfaced, his career has clearly been on ice, resulting in him being booted from Rick and Morty.
As a result, the roles of Rick and Morty were recast on the show, and the same has happened with MultiVersus. As revealed by The Gamer, Rick and Morty are now being portrayed by Cardoni and Belden, respectively. MultiVersus relies on fighters crossing over from multiple Warner Bros. properties and having unique interactions with one another, but in the Beta build, both Rick and Morty had been exempt from these character-specific moments of banter, instead simply using audio clips from the show. With the new actors in place, both characters now have unique conversations with the rest of the roster.
Other Allegations Have Arisen Against Justin Roiland
While the felony domestic violence and false imprisonment charges were dismissed in March 2023 due to a lack of compelling evidence, the media attention led to a new breed of allegations of misconduct by Roiland, which were released in a report by NBC in September 2023. These allegations arose from 11 women and nonbinary individuals who claimed that Roiland had used his fame to enter into inappropriate conversations and situations with them. Many of these individuals presented evidence such as emails, shared photos and videos, and plane tickets to corroborate their stories, which ranged from Roiland having sexually suggestive conversations with fans under the age of 18 to buying alcohol for two women who had each been 20 years old at the time of the alleged incidents and sexually assaulting one. Roiland's attorney at the time called the claims "false and defamatory," and Roiland himself released a statement denying them as well.
In addition to being removed from his various roles with Rick and Morty, Roiland's alleged actions have had other repercussions. He resigned from his role at Squanch Games, the publisher/developer of High on Life, for which he served as the creator, and was also removed from his roles with animated shows Solar Opposites, which he co-created, and Koala Man, for which he had been an executive producer. For his part, Dan Harmon spoke out about Roiland in September 2023, in part apologizing and taking personal responsibility for not taking action to secure a safe workplace environment for the cast and crew of Rick and Morty. As Harmon put it, "It’s other people’s safety and comfort that got damaged while I obsessed over a cartoon’s quality."
MultiVersus
MultiVersus is a 2D side-scrolling platform fighter that includes a wide array of Warner Bros. characters. Players can choose between characters like Shaggy, Batman, Steven Universe, Jake the Dog, and more.
- Released
- August 15, 2022
- Developer(s)
- Player First Games
- Publisher(s)
- Warner Bros. Interactive
- Genre(s)
- Fighting
- ESRB
- T For Teen // Fantasy Violence, Language
