After months of secrecy, Rick and Morty finally unveiled the new voices for the show’s titular characters after original voice actor Justin Roiland was ousted following a series of sexual assault allegations. The Season 7 premiere revealed that animation newcomers Ian Cardoni and Harry Belden took over the voices of Rick and Morty, respectively.
So far, the reception to the voice change has been overwhelmingly positive. The Season 7 trailer went over like gangbusters with Rick and Morty fans after hearing Cardoni and Belden for the first time. Obviously, the high-profile casting has put a spotlight on the two actors, so here’s where you can catch some of their previous work:
Ian Cardoni
According to IMDb, Cardoni has mostly appeared in bit roles in comedy films like Grown Ups and Clear History as well as a Doctor Who comedy short with Hugh Grant. He also served as the “Jack Sparrow Narrator” for both WrestleMania 36 and 37.
Harry Belden
As for Belden, he most recently appeared in Season 3 Episode 5 of Joe Pera Talks with You and the TV movie, Christmas Again. He also appeared in Season 5 Episode 11 of Chicago Med and Season 1 Episode 2 of Presumed Innocent.
How They Got The ‘Rick And Morty’ Gig
Despite their seemingly sparse resumes, Cardoni and Belden beat out a huge field of contenders for the coveted Rick and Morty roles, according to showrunner Scott Marder.
“We heard thousands. It went on for six months,” Marder told The Hollywood Reporter. “It was really wide. It almost went so wide that we debated doing a global hotline, though we knew it would wind up being a prank line.”
As the process continued, Marder and Rick and Morty creator Dan Harmon kept coming back to Cardoni and Belden.
“Ian was one of the first people I heard when the search began; he was in the first wave: ‘Mark that guy, he’s got major flashes of Rick,’ which was awesome. We found Harry a lot later. They just stood out,” Marder said. “We brought those guys back in with a wave of people a ton of times and made them go through a bunch of sides and do all scenes in a way we wouldn’t even do normally just to see what their stamina was and if they could stay in voice. We put them through a pretty rigorous process.”
Rick and Morty Season 7 airs new episodes Sunday on Adult Swim.