Justin Roiland reportedly hasn’t had a creative presence on Rick and Morty for years

Last Updated on March 28, 2023

The great success that Justin Roiland achieved with Rick and Morty came crashing down last month when Adult Swim ended their association with him after he was charged with felony domestic abuse. While some feared that the series would be cancelled as a result of Roiland’s exit, it was quickly announced that Rick and Morty would continue with the leading roles set to be recast. Losing the co-creator of a hit series could be seen as a blow, but a report from THR states that Justin Roiland hasn’t had “any meaningful creative presence” on Rick and Morty since the third season.

The early days of Rick and Morty were “easy and fun” according to co-creator Dan Harmon, with the two creators getting along well. After the success of the first season, Harmon was set on improving the second season even more. “And when Harmon wants something to be even better, it means later nights, it means being more careful, it means saying yes to fewer silly ideas, and Justin is the king of silly ideas,” a source told THR. Harmon brought in some of his writers from Community, and the writers’ room started to split between Harmon’s “more cerebral, structured” writers and Roiland’s “zany collection of artists.“

Justin Roiland started to pull away from the series at that time, seemingly uninterested in the work that needed to be done. THR’s report states that he began sitting as far as possible away from the other writers, even using a pair of binoculars to see what had been written on the whiteboard. By the third season, Rick and Morty had hired several female writers, and there was one instance of alleged sexual harassment. Roiland was said to flip-flop between being “highly engaged and appropriately silly” and “surly, petulant, uncommunicative, and grouchy.” He was also easily distracted, abruptly leaving to go to Toys R Us to buy action figures or Nerf guns that he would spend the rest of the day playing with. The rest of the writers’ room found it difficult to get any work done with Roiland around, and at some point during the third season… sources say he just stopped showing up.

The relationship between Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon had reportedly “grown so acrimonious that the show brought in a mediator to try to salvage what was once an inspired partnership.” The efforts were unsuccessful, but they were able to put their differences aside for the sake of the series. So, for the last few seasons, Roiland has had nothing to do with the series except for providing the voices of the main characters, which he recorded in his own home and took no direction. One source said that Roiland had revealed that he believed that voicing main characters (on both Rick and Morty and Solar Opposites) would keep him from one day getting fired. Apparently not.

Justin Roiland’s involvement in Rick and Morty may be no more, but it doesn’t sound like anything will drastically change behind the scenes from a creative standpoint… other than the voices.