Adult Swim cut ties with ‘Rick and Morty’ co-creator and star Justin Roiland following domestic violence charges

24 January, 2023

Justin Roiland in 2017

Rick and Morty network Adult Swim has announced that it has severed ties with the show’s co-creator and star Justin Roiland, after it was reported this month he had been charged with domestic violence.

“Adult Swim has ended its association with Justin Roiland,” reads a statement shared on Rick and Morty‘s social media channels. “Rick and Morty will continue. The talented and dedicated crew are hard at work on Season 7.”

With Roiland’s dismissal from the Rick and Morty team, it’s expected his roles – Roiland voiced the titular Rick Sanchez and his grandson Morty Smith for the first six seasons of the animated show – will be recast.

Roiland appeared in court on January 12 this year for a pre-trial hearing after being charged in Orange County, California in May 2020 with one count of domestic battery with corporal injury, and one felony count of false imprisonment by menace, violence, fraud and/or deceit. Roiland has pleaded not guilty to both charges.

According to the complaint against Roiland, the alleged incident took place on or around January 19, 2020, and was perpetrated against an unidentified woman who was dating Roiland at the time. A date for the trial has not yet been set, but another pre-trial hearing is scheduled to take place on April 27.

Roiland co-created Rick and Morty alongside Community creator Dan Harmon, with the first season premiering in late 2013. The show’s sixth season premiered in 2022, and ended last month.

In addition to Rick and Morty, Roiland also co-created the Hulu animated series Solar Opposites and voices one of its main characters. Hulu is yet to comment on Roiland’s charges, and how it will affect the series going forward.

Roiland’s other voice credits include appearances on Adventure Time, Gravity Falls, Community and Robot Chicken, among others. More recently, his company Squanch Games released the game High on Life last year.

The post Adult Swim cut ties with ‘Rick and Morty’ co-creator and star Justin Roiland following domestic violence charges appeared first on NME.