Rick and Morty is back with more of the same deranged interdimensional adventures but some notably different voices in the new trailer for Season Seven.
The clip offers the first glimpse at Rick and Morty following the ouster of creator/lead performer Justin Roiland, who was fired in January after it was revealed that he’d been charged with domestic violence (those charges were ultimately dismissed). At the time of Roiland’s firing, Rick and Morty’s network, Adult Swim, announced the show would continue without him, even though he voiced the two titular main characters. The new Season Seven trailer offers the first audible glimpse of Rick and Morty’s slightly altered but familiar enough voices, though Adult Swim still hasn’t officially revealed who took over for Roiland.
Though nothing in the trailer alludes to this change, a Season Seven synopsis provided by Adult Swim included a not-so-subtle nod, proclaiming, “Rick and Morty are back and sounding more like themselves than ever.”
Season Seven of Rick and Morty will premiere on Adult Swim on Oct. 15. Along with whoever’s voicing Rick and Morty now, the show’s core cast also includes Chris Parnell, Spencer Grammar, and Sarah Chalke.
The charges against Roiland were first revealed publicly in January, but they were originally brought back in 2020 by an anonymous woman dating Roiland then. Roiland pleaded not guilty to the charges at the time and was released on a $50,000 bond; a protective order was also filed against him in Oct. 2020, ordering Roiland not to go near, or interact with, the woman.
A few months after the charges were publicly revealed and Roiland was fired from Rick and Morty, the Orange County District Attorney’s office dismissed them, citing insufficient evidence. In a statement, Roiland said he always knew “these claims were false,” adding, “I’m thankful that this case has been dismissed but, at the same time, I’m still deeply shaken by the horrible lies that were reported about me during this process.”
Then, earlier this month, nearly a dozen women and nonbinary people came forward to NBC News and accused Roiland of sexual assault and direct messaging underage girls. At the time, a lawyer for Roiland called the allegations “false and defamatory.”