On Wednesday, Adult Swim premiered President Curtis, a new spin-off of the hit comedy franchise, at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, expanding a property that many fans predicted would struggle to survive after the departure of co-creator Justin Roiland.
Keith David reprises his role as the titular POTUS, a Rick and Morty series regular since season two’s “Get Schwifty” episode. The show’s voice cast includes Stephanie Beatriz and Jim Rash. The new series follows the commander-in-chief and his staff as they navigate interdimensional diplomacy, paranormal investigations and other unexplained crises.
The launch comes more than three years after Adult Swim severed ties with Roiland following felony domestic abuse charges that were later dismissed. At the time, many fans argued the series could not continue without the co-creator, who voiced both Rick and Morty. The network instead recast the roles, with Ian Cardoni taking over as Rick and Harry Belden as Morty, while co-creator Dan Harmon remained as sole showrunner.
“It was a different thing than when Michael [Cusack] and Zach [Hadel] said we don’t want to do more Smiling Friends,” Adult Swim president Michael Ouweleen said in Annecy. “Even though we greenlit two more seasons, we knew we couldn’t continue without them. With Rick and Morty, we had a bunch of people working on it. We knew the show could continue and maybe even keep growing creatively.”
