Besides being a co-creator of Rick and Morty, Justin Roiland had also provided the voices of the main characters of the show—which is why it was such a huge deal when he was fired from the show and Adult Swim decided to keep making it without him.
Ultimately the series had found replacements for Roiland, but some are wondering why the showrunners decided to cast two different people to voice characters that were originally performed by one person.
Talking to THR, showrunner Scott Marder and co-creator Dan Harmon had explained that they cast two people because they saw the toll that the show was taking on Roiland as he was playing multiple characters. Marder explained:
“For sheer quality of life, it’d be easier for the amount of work required for both characters. We watched it over the years wear down on Roiland’s voice. It felt unfair to do that to someone.”
The series ended up with two relatively unknown actors to play the parts of Rick and Morty with Ian Cardoni and Harry Belden respectively. The premiere even had a third person voice the part of Mr. Poopybutthole, who was also originally voiced by Roiland as well.
Marder had apparently auditioned thousands of people for the roles, which they whittled down to a hundred until they finally got to Cardoni and Belden. While a lot of people still think Cardoni’s Rick has some differences from how Roiland performs the voice, Belden has been praised for his take on Morty which a lot of people can’t tell is not Roiland.
Catch new episodes of Rick and Morty when they come out on Adult Swim and Max every Sunday night.
