Who Could Voice Rick and Morty as Adult Swim Cuts Ties with Justin Roiland

Rick and Morty will continue without its co-creator Justin Roiland after domestic violence charges were brought against him, Adult Swim has confirmed.

The network released a statement on Tuesday, January 24 in which it confirmed that it had cut ties with Roiland but that the animated series would continue.

Sharing the statement on Instagram, it said: "Adult Swim has ended its association with Justin Roiland. Rick and Morty will continue. The talented and dedicated crew are hard at work on Season 7."

This has prompted fans of the show to question who could replace Roiland, as the creator voiced the show's titular characters as well as a number of background characters, alongside his duties as executive producer, writer and director.

Who Could Voice Rick and Morty as Adult Swim Cuts Ties with Justin Roiland

Roiland has been charged with domestic battery with corporal injury and false imprisonment by menace, violence, fraud and/or deceit in connection to an incident in 2020. If convicted, he faces up to seven years in prison.

Roiland pleaded not guilty in 2020, and his attorney previously told Newsweek they expect the charges to be dismissed.

In a statement shared with Newsweek earlier this month, Roiland's attorney T. Edward Welbourn said: "It is hard to overstate how inaccurate the recent media coverage of this situation has been.

"To be clear, not only is Justin innocent but we also have every expectation that this matter is on course to be dismissed once the district attorney's office has completed its methodical review of the evidence."

He continued: "We look forward to clearing Justin's name and helping him move forward as swiftly as possible."

The incident allegedly took place in January 2020, and a criminal complaint was filed against Roiland in May of that year by an anonymous "Jane Doe" who was said to be dating him at the time.

According to Orange County Superior Court records, Roiland pleaded not guilty to both charges in October 2020. He was charged on January 12, 2022, and he is expected to attend a hearing on April 27, per Deadline.

Newsweek reached out to Justin Roiland's representatives for further comment. Adult Swim declined to comment.

Rick and Morty began airing in 2013 and became a global success, it was given a huge 70-episode renewal in 2018 and just finished airing its sixth season. The seventh season is expected to air this year.

With the news that Roiland was out of Rick and Morty, several fans took to Twitter to make some suggestions for who could replace him.

One person quickly became the frontrunner, a voice actor named Sean Kelly who became popular on TikTok thanks to his accurate impressions of Roiland's characters in Rick and Morty.

Roiland himself has previously heaped praise on Kelly, saying in an interview with Vanity Fair that Kelly's impression was "scary close" to his voice, adding that he felt "his vocal chords happen to be very similar to mine, so his Morty voice is eerily close to mine."

The Solar Opposites co-creator said that he had reached out to Kelly and told him that he believed "we could record stuff and no one could tell who was who."

On Twitter, one person wrote: "I nominate Sean Kelly to be Justin Roiland's replacement for Rick and Morty."

Sharing the aforementioned interview with Roiland, another user added: "What's crazy about this is Justin Roiland found his replacement years ago."

Another person added: "Bruh Just Hire Sean Kelly to replace him for every role hes done so far, Justin Roiland F***** up, and Im all for the series continuing but, I dont think Justin should be in the show anymore, I do love the show and dont want it to die, but the only replacement is Mr Kelly. [sic]"

Other actors to be suggested by fans included Michael Cusack, Alex Hirsch and Jackson Publick, amongst others.

Update 01/25/23, 10:18 a.m. ET: This article was updated to include that Adult Swim declined to comment.