Adult Swim Releases Statement About Future of ‘Rick & Morty’ Amid Justin Roiland’s Abuse Charges

As pretrial for Justin Roiland‘s charges of domestic violence and false imprisonment draws nearer (delayed by the pandemic), many are learning of the charges for the first time. Much of this happened early into the pandemic (May 2020) and the courts are backed up, so it’s all coming out now, nearly three years later. Additionally, since at least November 2022, women have slowly come forward with accusations of Roiland grooming them as minors. This has left questions regarding what will happen and should happen to the many shows he’s a big part of (including Ricky and Morty and Solar Opposites).

Today, Adult Swim (which airs Rick and Morty) announced it was formally cutting ties with Roiland, but season seven is still in process. The network ordered 70 episodes back in 2018 and only about 40% of the order has been fulfilled. In addition to voicing the main characters (Morty Smith and Rick Sanchez), Roiland is an executive producer and writer for the series. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Hulu and 20th Television Animation have given no comment or updates regarding what will happen with Solar Opposites. Also, sources told THR that the network would make Dan Harmon the sole showrunner and was looking to recast Roiland.

Online response

While many people feel unsure about how the show works without Roiland, and there are of course people who will never take these accusations seriously, the overall consensus is this is the right choice. Many viewers (including people who said they no longer watch the show) are relieved that the crew will not have their work cast aside because of one person’s actions. Even if that person is the co-creator of the series.

Serveral of women who accused Roiland of grooming them said they were fans of the show—and DMs show he was aware of this, making things even worse because it further shows the unequal power dynamics of the situation. Given the trend of accusations and his pre-existing anti-union behavior, Roiland has an issue with power dynamics, and as the co-creator/creator of so many series, this gives him a lot of direct influence over people’s lives.

(featured image: Adult Swim)

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