How ‘Rick and Morty’ imploded behind the scenes

One of the most beloved animated series of the 21st century, Rick and Morty, almost fell apart when one of its creators was accused of domestic violence and later, sexual misconduct.

Justin Roiland was one of the brains behind the Adult Swim productions’ cartoon alongside former Community showrunner, Dan Harmon. He even voiced the titular characters, who were a loose parody of Back to the Future’s Marty McFly and Doc Brown.

Accusations of domestic violence first reported by NBC earlier this year saw Adult Swim cut ties with Roiland shortly after. The revelations sent the show into a tailspin about how it could replace him both behind the scenes and as the voice of its stars.

The domestic violence charges against Roiland were dropped in March due to insufficient evidence. Earlier this month, NBC reported that new accusations of sexual misconduct were made against Roiland. Newsweek has contacted Roiland’s attorney by email for comment.

It hasn’t all been doom and gloom for Rick and Morty which started off as a passion project for Roiland and Harmon before things turned sour.

The Early Days: Rick and Morty Launches to Much Fanfare

Harmon recalled meeting Roiland at the experimental film festival Channel 101 that the former had launched and the latter had drawn a cartoon for. Specifically, a cartoon about a narcissistic older man and his useless grandson, that was modelled on the relationship between McFly and Doc Brown in the popular sci-fi film franchise.

Adult Swim had approached Harmon to make a show and the two men decided to pitch the animation Roiland had made for Channel 101.

“It’s not that I’m bereft of ideas, but I wouldn’t know where to begin,” Harmon recently told The Hollywood Reporter of the decision to put Roiland forward as the boss of the show. “I’m a character person and a story person and an I-just-want-people-to-like-me person.”

Despite some pushback, the studio allowed Roiland to voice both lead characters, and Rick and Morty debuted in 2013 to critical praise.

The First Fractures

Ahead of the second season, Harmon decided to fill the writers’ room with many of his Community writers, unknowingly stepping on Roiland’s toes and authority.

“If I had felt like I was imposing something, I would have never done it,” he mused to THR, explaining that in hindsight Roiland must have felt like he was being edged out of his own show.

“If anything, what I wanted was for Justin and I both to be able to be increasingly lazy and not show up for work. That was the dream,” Harmon said.

“We’d be these rich idea men. He could roll around and go, like, ‘What if a genie had a butt instead of a d***?’ And I could be like, ‘Yeah, and plus, we’re going to make people cry about it, and that’s going to make them freak out.

“It’s a story about a genie butt d***, but then we’d win an Emmy, and it’d be more ironic than ever.’ And then I’d come to find out later that it was like, ‘Oh, Harmon brought in his Harmon writers,’ and, man, that is not how I saw it.”

Roiland confronted Harmon about not feeling happy working on the show, and even Adult Swim’s boss at the time, Mike Lazzo, noticed things weren’t right between the pair.

“Dan would be in the writers’ room and Justin would be running radio control cars around the studio,” Lazzo said.

“It’s so dependent on writing and character, and those are Dan’s strengths. I remember I’d get frustrated waiting on his scripts, but then they’d arrive and they would be masterpieces.”

Rick and Morty Becomes a Juggernaut

By its third season, Rick and Morty was a wildly popular hit and another 70 episodes were ordered.

Behind the scenes, relations between the men were worse than ever. Roiland stopped turning up to work and a mediator was brought in to smooth things over.

Working together to secure the 70 episodes was what ended up bringing the men back together, albeit temporarily.

“It was like Justin and I were in love again, because we were dealing with the powers that be and talking about how rich we might be if we negotiated together,” Harmon explained.

The Last Text

The last time Harmon and Roiland communicated was via text message 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.” Harmon said.

“I think that’s as far as I get to take the story. At that point, we’re no longer both there for it, and it starts to become not only unfair for me to continue but totally uncomfortable because, from there, a friendship goes away, and I still don’t fully understand why.”

Domestic Violence Charges

In January this year, Roiland was charged with domestic battery with corporal injury and false imprisonment by menace, violence, fraud and/or deceit in connection to an incident in 2020.

He pleaded not guilty at a pre-trial in January and on March 22, the Orange County District Attorney’s office in California announced it had dismissed the charges due to insufficient evidence.

After the charges were dropped, Roiland shared a statement to X, formerly Twitter, slamming people who were “quick to judge without knowing the facts.”

“I have always known that these claims were false—and I never had any doubt that this day would come. I’m thankful that this case has been dismissed but, at the same time, I’m still deeply shaken by the horrible lies that were reported about me during this process,” Roiland posted on March 22.

“Most of all, I’m disappointed that so many people were so quick to judge without knowing the facts, based solely on the words of an embittered ex trying to bypass due process and have me ‘canceled.’

“That it may have succeeded, even partially, is shameful. However, now that the legal case has ended, I’m determined to move forward and focus both on my creative projects and restoring my good name.”

But it was too late for Roiland who had not only been dropped by Adult Swim but also Hulu for the shows Solar Opposites and Koala Man. Roiland also resigned from Squanch Games, the video game company he co-founded in 2016.

Sexual Misconduct Allegations

An investigative report by NBC News released earlier this month alleged Roiland used his fame to pursue young, including underage, fans on social media. One woman accused him of forcing her to perform a sexual act on him after she had said “no.”

Another one of the accusers alleged that Roiland and another woman allegedly had sex with her while she was intoxicated. Both of these women were in their early 20s and Roiland was in his late 30s at the time of the alleged incidents.

NBC News investigators described seeing text messages from Roiland apologizing to the women over the incidents.

Eleven women and nonbinary people said they exchanged thousands of messages with Roiland, 43, between 2013 and 2022. Nine of those people claimed the messages became sexual in nature.

In three cases the person said they were under the age of 18 and Roiland would allegedly message them again months or years later. These people, who said they were 16 at the time that communication started, alleged they maintained contact with Roiland until they were at least 18 years old.

The investigation suggested Roiland used a similar pattern with his accusers, asking them where they lived, their sexual orientation, and their ages.

In some cases, he would allegedly offer to meet up and foot the bill, including Uber rides and plane tickets.

Through his attorney, Roiland denied the accusations. His lawyer Andrew Brettler, told NBC the allegations were “false and defamatory.”

Rick and Morty’s Future

Despite the rocky relations between Harmon and Roiland, and the multiple accusations of misconduct against the latter, Rick and Morty could continue for years.

Harmon said he had tentative talks with Adult Swim’s owner, Warner Bros. about making a Rick and Morty feature film and to model it after the Southpark movie, to create a “super episode” concept.

Ricky and Morty’s upcoming season debuts on October 15.