The Roiland Recasting has begun! After Justin Roiland was charged with domestic violence earlier this year, he was rapidly dumped by every animated project he created / voiced, leaving a gaping hole in some of the more popular animated series going. Now the first recasting announcement has come with Dan Stevens, of Downton Abbey and The Guest fame, taking over the voice of Korvo from Justin Roiland in Solar Opposites on Hulu. The announcement came with a clip from the show, which is going the route of working the voice change into the plot of the story.
Solar Opposites seems to be continuing on its story of a family of aliens who crash-landed on Earth, and if the clip is any indication, the loss of Roiland isn’t going to affect the show’s comedy all that much. It was widely reported after the charges had come out that Roiland was basically persona non grata in all the writers’ rooms for shows with his name on them, making it relatively easy for them to continue on with just a voice swap. Even with the charges dropped, there was enough sketchy conduct and poor professional behavior that none of the series or game studios asked Roiland to return.
And, OK, Solar Opposites and Dan Stevens isn’t the Justin Roiland voice casting you all really care about. The real series that’s going to be an issue is obviously Rick and Morty, where Roiland’s voice of both Rick and Morty had become iconic. It will be far more challenging for that show’s creators to pull off a quick gag and then go along as if nothing has happened given both the larger audience for the series and the fact that Roiland’s unique and honestly affecting voice performance for Rick is hard to duplicate. Of course, the show deals in there being a nearly infinite number of Rick and Morty out there, so there’s an easy multiverse “out” for the writers — but that ignores the aforementioned way that Rick and Morty’s voices help define the series itself.
Solar Opposites, which is the series we’re supposed to be talking about here, is returning for its fourth season on August 14 with 11 new episodes. And if anyone cares, the Hulu series that featured Roiland mostly as an executive producer and occasional voice, Koala Man, is still waiting to find out if it will receive a second season.
