After allegations of abuse were revealed earlier this year, Adult Swim and Hulu parted ways with Justin Roiland (Rick and Morty, Solar Opposites, Koala Man). Now, a new investigation by the Hollywood Reporter says that Roiland’s offbeat work ethic and flaky attention span made him a lot less important to his projects than the public might have assumed.
One of the stories that THR exposed was Roiland’s inability to show up for important meetings, something that was apparently waved away by his bosses: “The behaviour came to be expected, and though it was infuriating to collaborators, they say it was often excused by executives, chalked up to what one describes as ‘an eccentricity of a genius weirdo’.” The trade also found that Roiland established a pattern of separating himself from actual work, stating that some colleagues hadn’t actually seen him in years. “Multiple sources say that Roiland, other than voice work, has not had any meaningful creative presence on any of the series that bear his name” — which might be a surprise considering the widely held perception that he was the driving force behind them, particularly Rick and Morty.
Sources additionally stated that “Roiland had revealed early on that he believed securing key voice roles would safeguard him from being fired one day.” His most recent voice gig on Koala Man went so poorly that his character was killed off. Turns out nothing is going to safeguard a man like Roiland; not talent, not fame, and certainly not voice acting.
Read the entire piece — which also gets into Roiland’s relationship with Rick and Morty co-creator Dan Harmon, which has apparently been frosty for years, despite the show’s continuing success — over at the Hollywood Reporter.
While you’re here, why not check out Gizmodo Australia’s guide to what’s streaming this month on Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, Stan, Binge and more. We’ve also got one for all the good movies coming out in 2023 if that’s more your thing.