Rick and Morty was dreamed up by Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland, though the latter ended up being fired from the series earlier this year after alleged sexual misconduct.
After briefly facing police charges, the floodgates opened and Roiland's reputation was damaged beyond repair. It's understandably difficult to imagine him bouncing back from what's been said, particularly after shocking claims he used his fame to proposition teenage girls (some of whom were allegedly as young as 16).
Soundalikes have been cast as Rick and Morty's title characters moving forward and Harmon has finally opened up about the end of his and Roiland's friendship in a new profile with The Hollywood Reporter (via SFFGazette.com).
It sounds like it started falling apart when Harmon decided to bring in a number of writers he'd worked with on Community to give the hit animated series some structure. Roiland felt pushed out and grew bitter as his partner became the creative driving force behind the Adult Swim series.
Roiland's behaviour behind the scenes was every bit as bizarre as we've heard as the trade spoke with former Adult Swim boss Mike Lazzo who reveals, "Dan would be in the writers room and Justin would be running radio control cars around the studio."
After reuniting to agree on the landmark deal for an additional 70 episodes of Rick and Morty, the relationship improved but only for a short while. In fact, the last time they spoke was by text in 2019.
"He said things that he’d never said before about being unhappy, and I remember saying to him the last time we spoke in person, like, 'I am worried about you, and I don’t know what to do about that except to give you all the string and also just say I’m scared that you’re not going to come back.' But then this conversation became unprecedentedly confrontational."
When those accusations came out earlier this year, Harmon says he initially chose not to comment and decided to take a backseat in recasting Rick and Morty with who the trade calls "two young, unknown voice actors." Their identity is expected to remain a secret until the season 7 premiere next month.
"It’s all just sad because the goal is for it to be indistinguishable," he says. "At the same time, it would be absurd to suddenly decide that the entire foundation of your creative project was, oh, coincidentally, unimportant."
Despite acknowledging the importance of Roiland's contributions to the animated series, Harmon feels he can no longer remain silent when asked about the misconduct accusations, especially after the latest round painted a dark picture of what was happening.
"The easiest thing for me to say about Justin has been nothing. Easy because he isolated so well and easy because I’m nobody’s first choice as a judge of anything or anyone. This is where I’d love to change the subject to myself, to what a piece of crap I’ve been my whole public life. I would feel so safe and comfortable making this about me, but that trick is worthless here and dangerous to others."
"It’s other people’s safety and comfort that got damaged while I obsessed over a cartoon’s quality. Trust has now been violated between countless people and a show designed to please them. I’m frustrated, ashamed and heartbroken that a lot of hard work, joy and passion can be leveraged to exploit and harm strangers."
Harmon has now appointed a showrunner in Scott Marder and hopes Rick and Morty will have the same longevity as The Simpsons. Prior to the WGA strike, he'd even had "serious" conversations with Warner Bros. executives about a movie that would have a "super episode" conceit similar to South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut.
With the strike over, we're hoping work on the Rick and Morty movie will now resume. In the meantime, let us know your thought on this news in the comments section.