Following the premiere of Rick and Morty Season 7, the voice actors who will be replacing series co-creator Justin Roiland have finally been announced. After an intensive six-month long casting search involving thousands of auditions, newcomers Ian Cardoni and Harry Belden have been tapped to become the voice actors for the respective roles of Rick Sanchez and Morty Smith.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, showrunner Scott Marder opened up about how Cardoni and Belden landed the leading roles in the popular adult-animated sitcom. In addition, Marder also confirmed that Mr. Poopybutthole, who was also one of the characters that Roiland previously voiced, is now being played by John Allen.
“Ian was one of the first people I heard when the search began; he was in first wave: ‘Mark that guy, he’s got major flashes of Rick,’ which was awesome,” Marder said. “We found Harry a lot later. They just stood out. At a certain point, we couldn’t expect the first wave to just nail it from start to finish. Anyone that we felt like had pure moments of either character, we had to bring back and see what they could do on their feet. We brought those guys back in with a wave of people a ton of times and made them go through a bunch of sides and do all scenes in a way we wouldn’t even do normally just to see what their stamina was and if they could stay in voice. We put them through a pretty rigorous process.”
What to expect in Rick and Morty Season 7?
“Rick and Morty are back and sounding more like themselves than ever,” reads the synopsis. “It’s season seven, and the possibilities are endless: what’s up with Jerry? EVIL Summer?! And will they ever go back to the high school?! Maybe not! But let’s find out! There’s probably less piss than last season. ‘Rick and Morty,’ 100 years! Or at least until season 10!”
The adult animated series follows a sociopathic genius scientist, Rick, who drags his inherently timid grandson Morty on insanely dangerous adventures across the multiverse. Following Roiland’s controversial dismissal from the show, the titular duo will be voiced by soundalike actors. Apart from Roiland, the series will continue to include the rest of the Smith family, who are voiced by Sarah Chalke as Beth, Chris Parnell as Jerry, and Spencer Grammer as Summer.