What happened to Justin Roiland? False imprisonment charge explained
Mia Phillips
Updated on April 03, 2026
As cable channel Adult Swim announces it has ended its association with Rick And Morty co-creator Justin Roiland, you might be wondering what happened?
Roiland, 42, has been dropped from the network as he fights domestic violence charges, including false imprisonment, Time reports.
Adult Swim, the home of Rick And Morty, has parted ways with California native Roiland after the case went to pre-trial earlier this month. Roiland, co-creator of the Emmy Award-winning animation, also voiced the two titular characters. The new season is expected to continue without Roiland’s contributions.
What happened to Justin Roiland?
On January 24, 2023 a statement was released to the official Twitter account for Rick And Morty announcing Adult Swim had parted ways with Justin Roiland.
“Adult Swim has ended its association with Justin Roiland,” the statement opens. “Rick And Morty will continue. The talent and dedicated crew are hard at work on season 7.”
The characters of Rick and Morty, who Roiland previously voiced, have yet to be recast for the show’s seventh season.
Justin Roiland denies domestic abuse and false imprisonment charges
This month, details of a three year-old domestic abuse charge raised against Justin Roiland came to light.
In May 2020, prosecutors in California issued Roiland with two charges of domestic battery with corporal injury and false imprisonment by menace, violence, fraud and/or deceit, the BBC reports. The charges were raised by a unnamed woman reportedly living with Roiland at the time.
The incident allegedly occurred three years ago, on or around January 19, 2020.
A criminal complaint was filed in May that year by the Orange County district attorney. Roiland was arrested and released on a $50,000 bond in August 2020 and arraigned in October that year, Time reports. In October 2020, a protective order was placed on the unnamed woman. Roiland was banned from going within 100ft of her.
Roiland has denied all charges.
What is ‘false imprisonment’?
The definition of false imprisonment under the California Penal Code 236 PC is the “unlawful violation of the personal liberty of someone else,” as described by law firm Cron, Israels & Stark. “To violate someone’s person’s liberty means a sustained restriction of their freedom using violence, duress, fraud, deceit.”
An individual needs to be held or restrained against their will for a period of time to be classified as false imprisonment. Unlike kidnapping charges, Penal Code 207, false imprisonment occurs in one location.
In California, false imprisonment is a “wobbler” offense. This means it can either be tried as a misdemeanor or felony crime, dependent on the case.
Justin Roiland denies all charges against him
Justin Roiland appeared in court at a pre-trial hearing earlier this month where his attorney, T Edward Welbourn, denied all charges on behalf of his client. Roiland has pleaded not guilty. The next pre-trial hearing is set for April 27, 2023.
Welbourne said his client was innocent, adding: “We look forward to clearing Justin’s name and helping him move forward as swiftly as possible.” Roiland’s lawyer also called media coverage of the case “inaccurate.”
He added: “To be clear, not only is Justin innocent but we also have every expectation that this matter is on course to be dismissed once the district attorney’s office has completed its methodical review of the evidence.”
