Rick and Morty just wrapped up one of its best seasons ever, so it's wild to hear Dan Harmon say he almost ended the show for good. The creator opened up about co-creator Justin Roiland's firing years ago and how he initially thought the best decision was to end the series. Harmon was a guest on The Daily Beast's Obsessed and spoke about the massive change that occurred when Roiland was fired from Rick & Morty. Beyond voicing the title characters and other memorable minor ones, Harmon called his former colleague the "heart" of the show: My automatic assumption was we couldn't have a show without Justin...He's doing the voices, and creatively, he was the heart of the show. I pride myself on being an excellent sort of engineer of character, dialogue, story, but that show is Justin's vision. It is the things that draw you to it start with him.While there were reports at the time of his dismissal that Justin Roiland had become more of a hindrance than a help to the creative process on Rick and Morty, Dan Harmon spoke on the positives that he brought to the show. Sure, the plan to replace him with voice actors who sound like near-duplicates was sound, but he had legitimate concern the show would lose its heart without Roiland. I think it's clear, based on the 2026 TV schedule featuring one of the show's best seasons and a new spinoff, President Curtis, would prove that Harmon was wrong. He didn't feel that way at the time, though, and it took a number of people on the Rick and Morty staff to convince him otherwise. Here's what he said: A bunch of people found me where I was. It was a bar. Like 20 people from Rick and Morty found me where I was, and it was like they were talking a different language. They were like, 'Well, so are we going to keep doing the show?' One of the writers said, 'Why does this get to be his decision? What does this have to do with the show and the fans and the characters?'Eventually, Dan Harmon came around to the idea that Rick and Morty can continue, and he and the team got to work making that happen. This meant hiring Ian Cardoni and Harry Belden as the new voices of the show, and getting the show back off the ground after its biggest controversy to date. Variety later reported that the domestic violence charges lodged against Justin Roiland were dropped. The co-creator did not return to Rick and Morty afterward, but is still listed in the credits. Meanwhile, the series is rolling up on a monumental tenth season, and shows no signs of stopping over at Adult Swim. There's even a movie in development, so it really feels as though the oft-quoted joke made by Rick of "100 years of Rick and Morty" could actually come to pass. Adult animation shows can have a long shelf life once they get established, as The Simpsons, Family Guy, South Park, and many others have shown. I suppose in hindsight we should be thanking all those who stepped in and snapped Dan Harmon out of his funk, or the franchise may not be in the position that it is now. Rick and Morty Season 9 just finished, but episodes from it are available to stream over on HBO Max right now. For those who haven't had a chance to watch, it's definitely one worth making time for.