Jan 14, 2020

Co-creator of “Rick and Morty” Dan Harmon leaves Starburns Industries, Inc. which he co-founded

Dan Harmon, co-creator of “Rick and Morty,” has left Starburns Industries, the production company he co-founded. According to Collider, which broke the news, there is no official reason yet for Harmon's departure. However, it quotes a source with knowledge of the situation as saying: “Dan left Starburns some time ago to focus his time and attention on Rick and Morty.”

In 2018, Adult Swim renewed the show and signed Harmon and co-creator Justin Roland to a whopping 70-episode deal. The first half of the fourth season finished airing last month. Harmon previously created the NBC live-action sitcom Community and is one of the co-founders of Channel 101, an online forum for comedy web series.

Harmon founded Starburns in 2010 with Dino Stamatopoulos, Joe Russo II, James Fino, and Duke Johnson. This boutique production studio has made a name for itself with distinctive animated television and web projects. Its credits include The Emperor's Newest Clothes, Mary Shelley's Frankenhole, and Harmonquest. The company produced the first season of Rick and Morty, but then moved production to Rick and Morty LLC, which operates out of the Starburns Building in Burbank, California. [The company entered feature production with the 2015 stop-motion film “Anomalisa,” which was nominated for an Academy Award. Most recently, the company is developing “Bubbles,” an unauthorized biopic of Michael Jackson, told from the perspective of his eponymous chimpanzee. The project has been in limbo since director Taika Waititi and production partner Netflix pulled out of the project, possibly due to renewed allegations of sexual abuse against Jackson.

Two years ago, Harmon made headlines for treating women “like trash” and sexually harassing a former female colleague, Megan Ganz. He made that confession on his podcast, Harmontown (you can watch the video recording below). The podcast ended last month.

(Photo at top: Shutterstock)