Feb 7, 2023

Report: Justin Royland fell with Dan Harmon and was not involved in "Rick and Morty" for years.

Since news was reported last month that Rick and Morty co・creator Justin Royland, 42, has been charged with felony domestic violence and false imprisonment, there has been a lack of rumors and speculation about the man, his role in several popular animated series he has produced, and the impact his dismissal from those shows will have on future productions. It is not.

Today, the Hollywood Reporter published the most detailed behind-the-scenes account yet about the rise and fall of 10 of the animation industry's most successful figures in the past 1 year.

The whole piece is something that stood out to us here, for those who are worth reading if they have time, but need important points:

According to THR, the criminal charges against Royland shocked his colleagues, despite years of precedent for inappropriate behavior by the creators behind the scenes. Multiple sources confirmed that Roiland was involved in at least 3 instances of alleged sexual harassment during the production of Rick and Morty's Season 1. In 2020, Cartoon Network (parent company of Adult Swim) conducted a formal investigation into Roiland's alleged inappropriate behavior, but it is unclear whether the company took any action.

Sources working on Rick and Morty claimed that the relationship between Royland and the show's co-creator Dan Harmon had deteriorated, dating back to Season 2. Harmon, a renowned perfectionist, reportedly felt pressure to deliver improvements in the first season of the show and brought some of his own people from the community to help write Season 2. The new staff did not have the intimate relationship or respect for Royland that the writers of that season did, which caused cracks in the writers' rooms, reflecting what formed between the creators. According to the staff, Harmon's relationship with Loylan was very resentful, and adult swim brought an intermediary for a ultimately fruitless attempt to save Loylan's relationship with Harmon.

As Rick and Morty's relationship with colleagues deteriorated, Royland reportedly became indifferent to the show. Sources indicated that Roiland had not had any meaningful creative presence on Rick and Morty for years, other than performing voice work he recorded from home while refusing any direction. The show's staff said they rarely interacted with Royland, and the few times they did it was uncomfortable. He also said the incident reminded him of Royland's absence from an important meeting.

Sources on Roiland's Disney/Hulu show claimed a similar pattern has developed in both Solar Opposites and Koala Man. The staff said they had never met an executive producer, even during an online meeting. When stories about Roiland's criminal case and his inappropriate behavior hit the Internet, many employees working on his show felt they didn't even know who they were reading.

Since 2017, Roiland has been managed by Sam Lutfi. Lutfi, whose checkered resume includes working with Courtney Love and Amanda Bynes, is best known as a former agent for britney Spears and is not for good reason. According to the article, at one point, Lutfi was running a campaign to become a producer of Rick and Morty, but other producers of the show shot down the idea. THR suggests that there is more to the Lutfi connection, but the rest of the story is not told so far.

After news and rumors about Royland spread, an All Hands production meeting was held at Rick and Morty, and the show's workers drafted a letter to Adult Swim and its parent company Warner Bros. Discovery. In the letter, Shaw's employees demanded that the company immediately issue a statement clarifying Roiland's increasingly limited role in production. "To their credit," the source told THR, "they did it."The company not only issued a statement, but also ended its relationship with Roiland. Disney/Hulu followed later that same week. Now Roiland's former colleagues have little choice but to try and move on. "It's heartbreaking," said a Rick and Morty source. "Now everything has an asterisk.”