This Is How the ‘Rick and Morty’ Cast Reacted to Justin Roiland’s Firing

It’s been over two years since Rick and Morty co-creator Justin Roiland was went full January 6th over McDonald’s Szechuan Sauce, we haven’t really gotten the perspective of the show’s voice cast — until now.

The hilarious Chris Parnell recently guested on The Patrick LabyorSheaux with Patrick Labyorteaux, and after fielding questions about Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock, he was asked about his work as the gloriously pathetic Smith family patriarch, Jerry, on Rick and Morty. 

Parnell noted that the cast has just finished recording their parts for the ninth season of the show and clarified that, despite having previously claimed that he never auditioned for Rick and Morty, he recently discovered an audition track in an old email and is now trying to correct the record. 

The actor behind Dr. Spaceman also revealed that his TV wife, Beth, was originally going to be played by Alison Brie, but her casting was blocked by NBC due to “some bullshit rigamarole” involving her Community contract.

Former Little House on the Prairie star Labyorteaux then asked about Roiland’s firing, specifically how the actors were affected by such a “big shake-up.” Parnell recalled that he first heard about what was going on from showrunner Scott Marder during a recording session. And soon after that, the entire cast and crew were discussing the matter.

“There was a big cast and production Zoom meeting — at least one, maybe more than one — where everybody got on to talk about it,” Parnell explained. “And it was heavy. A lot of people were, understandably, very upset about what had happened. And we are also all worried about the fate of the show. Like, are we going to get to keep doing this?”

Parnell also confessed that he and his collaborators were distressed by the fact that all of their efforts, and the show’s legacy itself, might be tainted by one person’s toxic behavior. “People put so much work into something, and to have it be besmirched in any way, or have something negative attached to it, was very demoralizing,” he added.

With Roiland’s roles recast, Parnell had nothing but good things to say about his new co-stars. “Happily, they did this amazing search and found Harry (Belden) and Ian (Cardoni) to play Morty and Rick,” Parnell stated. “And they’re such delightful guys. They’re just lovely people. Very excited to play the parts. It’s ultimately all for the best. We’re all very happy, and hopefully we’ll all be able to keep doing it for many more seasons.”

So seemingly, everything worked out, and Rick and Morty will no doubt outlive us all.