‘Rick and Morty’ Fans Say the New Voice Actors Look Like Seth MacFarlane Split in Two

Before Ian Cardoni and Harry Belden were revealed to be the actors chosen to play the title characters on Rick and Morty, some fans theorized that the roles would be filled by A.I. voice generators. Now, a few fans suspect that Cardoni and Belden are just the result of Dan Harmon sending Seth MacFarlane to the alien spa from “Rest and Ricklaxation.”

When the secret identities of the two actors chosen to fill the highest-profile vacancies in voice acting were revealed, many applauded Harmon and Adult Swim for choosing relatively unknown artists whose voices most closely matched the previous performances by Justin Roiland rather than cashing in on free publicity from a big-name hire. Harmon has gone on record saying that he wants the transition to a post-Roiland Rick and Morty to be as seamless as possible for viewers — so much so that those not following the show’s offseason drama wouldn’t even notice the difference.

Though Cardoni and Belden are both working actors with a handful of credits on their respective IMDb pages, questions remain about the way Adult Swim chose them through the arduous, months long and highly confidential audition process — as well as where the producers found their new Rick and Morty in the first place. A recent thread in the Rick and Morty subreddit pointed out how Cardoni and Belden look like Seth MacFarlane was split into two people, which leads us to an even more concerning question — why did MacFarlane really leave Family Guy back in May?

As for why Harmon would separate the adult animation icon into two people, the reasons are obvious — MacFarlane is one of the most accomplished and competent voice actors in animation, and Harmon needed to bring in the best to keep his hit show afloat. Not wanting to create a controversy between Family Guy fans and Rick and Morty stans similar to the former’s feud with South Park and fearing what could happen if all the most important voices on the show were once again consolidated in a single actor, Harmon split MacFarlane into separate people by using the David Zaslav’s merger technology in reverse, dividing MacFarlane into separate entities instead of splicing Warner Bros. and Discovery into one unwieldy amalgamation.

Now, with his genetically divided ringers in place, Harmon is free to surreptitiously harness MacFarlane’s powers to evolve Rick and Morty into its next unholy phase. Expect a lot more cutaways in Season Seven.