Posted in: Adult Swim, Games, Rick and Morty, TV, Video Games, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, YouTube | Tagged: Adult Swim, Justin Roiland, MultiVersus, rick and morty
Rick and Morty stars Ian Cardoni & Harry Belden voice new dialogue for MultiVersus, with Justin Roiland’s voice removed from the video game.
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Later this month, Player First Games and Warner Bros. Games’s Warner Bros. Discovery characters-based crossover fighting game MultiVersus will be hitting a whole lot of game systems with a whole lot of excitement – understandably so. We’re already suckers for huge crossover events that bring characters together in ways that you never expected – throw a fighting game aspect into the mix, and we’re doubly sold (and we aren’t exactly what you would call the biggest gamers). From LeBron James to Adventure Time‘s Jake & Finn… from Black Adam to Gizmo from Gremlins… from Batman and Superman to Shaggy and Scooby-Doo… you can see the possibilities. Oh, and did we mention that Jason from the “Friday the 13th” horror franchise is also part of the lineup? But our focus is on our favorite animated duo – Adult Swim’s Rick and Morty. As we all know, video games don’t just spring to life overnight – they require a lot of time and creative effort. Thankfully, that time and effort included removing Justin Roiland‘s voice work for the video game (which were lines from the animated series) with fresh dialogue from Ian Cardoni and Harry Belden – Rick and Morty’s voices, respectively. Reporter Mollie Taylor (PC Gamer) confirmed the change in the credits for the voice cast – with Roiland’s name MIA and Cardoni and Belden’s names listed.
Rick and Morty Team on Replacing Roiland, Writing Team Stepping Up
Here’s a look back at what Rick and Morty Co-EP Steve Levy and Adult Swim President Michael Ouweleen had to share regarding Justin Roiland and the new voice actor(s) being brought aboard – as well as how the Adult Swim series’ writing team kept the ship going (all the way to another Emmy nomination – and another possible win):
On Roiland Being Replaced, Voice Acting Being Just One Part of Series & If Viewers Will Notice
Ouweleen: “The idea is that we feel that they are the same characters. Listen: voices are obviously super important in an animated series. And, of course, none of us wanted to go through what we went through. But I’ve been in animation for a long time, and I know that what makes a series is its different parts coming together. If the voices are obviously a big part, there is also the writing of the characters, their design… I have reason to believe that the transition will go well.”
Levy: “The quality of writing has never been better, and all the screenwriters have stayed. I don’t think anyone will bat an eyelid hearing the new voices.”
Ouweleen: “[On recasting process] But it’s looking good. It’s a rather unique situation… I’ll take an example: there have been several great Bugs Bunny voice actors, and I love what Jeff Bennett has done with them. But it’s not Mel Blanc! And yet we recognize the character. I even think that for ‘Rick and Morty’ we will do even better… It will be fine. It’ll be great.”
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On How “Rick and Morty” Team Responded to Justin Roiland’s Departure
Levy: The pill was hard to swallow. We were shocked and disturbed by what happened. But we stuck together, and we put all our energy into the series. We decided to stay positive, and in the end, we produced the best drawings, scripts, and animations of the entire series. And Dan Harmon [the co-creator of Rick and Morty] has always been in the trenches with us every step of the way. He always has an eye on everything, and sometimes that means he asks us to rewrite entire scripts, but for the good of the series. He never walked away after Justin left.
Ouweleen: There is no guide on how to react to this kind of thing. And it’s not normal to experience that. Of course, it’s hard; of course, it hurts. But when a whole team works on a series, the series actually becomes more important than one person. Season 7 will be pivotal; we know it, but I think we’ve never done better so far.
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