Are Rick And Morty's New Voices AI-Generated? Here's The Truth

After over six months of speculation and anticipation, "Rick and Morty" fans have finally gotten their first chance to listen to the new voice actors performing the title roles. As readers are likely aware, Justin Roiland, the program's co-creator and former lead voice actor, was fired from the popular Adult Swim animated series in January of this year amid disturbing allegations of domestic abuse and workplace misconduct. Per a report from Variety, Roiland was cleared of felony domestic abuse charges after the Orange County District Attorney's office dismissed the case due to a lack of evidence.

Despite this, Roiland was not asked to return to any of the projects he was dropped from, including "Rick and Morty" Season 7. On Monday, September 25, the network finally unveiled the upcoming season's first trailer, which provided an extended showcase of the new leading voices — both of which sound uncannily like Roiland's familiar dual performances. The voices are so close to the originals, in fact, that some are questioning if AI was involved. After all, content creators with fewer resources have produced serviceable "Rick and Morty" voices using publicly available technology.

Thankfully, it looks like robots weren't involved in this takeover: series writer Heather Anne Campbell shot down AI rumors in a post on X (formerly known as Twitter) shortly after the trailer was released. She also expressed her excitement for the new season and praised the series' new leads — even though the public still has no idea who they are.

As of writing, neither Adult Swim nor the "Rick and Morty" production team has revealed the new voice actors behind the titular characters in Season 7 — and according to a statement from the former, there's no plan to change this anytime soon.

"We want the show to speak for itself," a spokesperson for Adult Swim said in a statement to USA Today. "We believe in the strength of the season and our new voices and we want to preserve the viewing experience for fans." It sounds as though the new voice actors won't be revealed until the season premiere, a strategy that is probably wise or at the very least understandable. "Rick and Morty" fans are surprisingly diverse, ideologically speaking, and while many have praised the decision to remove Justin Roiland from the series, there are also those who passionately oppose his replacement. A glance at the comments section of the new trailer is all the evidence one needs to confirm the latter sentiment still burns hot.

On the other hand, keeping the voice actors a secret raises the question of what impact these names (Roiland has reportedly been replaced by two actors) would have on the series outside of their performances. In other words, fans have already heard the new "Rick and Morty" — how would knowing their actors' names change their perception?

Whoever these new voice talents are, they certainly sound up to the enormous and arguably thankless task they've taken on. If this course of action was chosen to avoid subjecting them to months of harassment from toxic sectors of the show's fanbase, we sincerely hope it pays off.