Far be it from us to point at a show with an entire corner of its mythology rooted in the life of a giant space baby whose parents are the underage sibling main characters of the series and say, “I think they might be messing with us.”
But. But, and we hesitate to even say anything here – Rick & Morty might be messing with us. Normally, a new promo spot for the show, featuring the voices of series mainstays Sarah Chalke and Spencer Grammer as Beth and Summer Smith, wouldn’t be cause for this sort of paranoia. The characteristically fourth wall-demolishing 30-second video was posted by the Rick & Morty X/Twitter account on Sept. 6, and it’s boilerplate fun for the show. Beth and Summer discuss the upcoming season, their excitement at being asked to do a promo, their hopes for the year to come, and food poisoning. Run-of-the-mill stuff.
What makes the video concerning, “we’re-getting-messed-with”-wise, is the continued lack of any hint of Rick, and, in equal part, Morty.
For the cheap seats: Rick & Morty co-creator and voice performer for both of the show’s titular character Justin Roiland was booted from the hit series after allegations of domestic abuse and unprofessional conduct came to light. His ouster was announced back in January of this year, with Adult Swim informing fans that a sound-alike voice actor would be hired to replace Roiland in further seasons of the show.
That was eight and a half months ago. In the time since, the case against Roiland was dismissed, and then new and vivid accusations were made about Roiland’s personal life. The next season of Rick & Morty comes out in just under five weeks, on October 15.
Has Rick and Morty announced Justin Roiland’s replacement?
We still haven’t heard who’s replacing Roiland, or even a syllable of recorded dialogue performed by the mystery artist. The new promo is the latest in a series of what’s starting to feel like very intentional moves to dangle any pertinent information just out of fans’ reach, leading us to believe that one of a few things could be happening.
One, the writers are going to keep this anticipation building for as long as possible, potentially even making audiences wait well into season seven to hear the new voices of the main characters. Maybe the first episode takes place in a silent film universe, or Rick accidentally zaps everyone with a dose of the rare space element Shutuppiam. The show doesn’t always go for the smart answer.
Option two is boring. It involves ongoing weirdness surrounding whether or not Adult Swim could even recast Rick and Morty during the ongoing actors’ strike.
Option three: Season seven opens with Rick and Morty voiced by Betsy Sodaro and Kumail Nanjiani, with the showrunners tweeting on Oct. 15 that viewers can deal with it.