Jeff Hays will voice Princess Donut in Dungeon Crawler Carl series
The audiobook narrator joins Peacock’s live-action adaptation as the voice of Princess Donut, the fan-favorite talking cat.
By Bianca Rossi · Entertainment Editor
2 min read
The Jeff Hays Princess Donut pairing from the Dungeon Crawler Carl audiobooks is carrying over to television. Variety reports that Hays has been cast as the voice of Princess Donut in Peacock’s live-action adaptation of Matt Dinniman’s bestselling LitRPG novels.
It is a tidy bit of fan service with real casting weight behind it. Hays is already the voice many listeners know from the audio editions, where he narrates and produces all eight currently released Dungeon Crawler Carl books, including Donut and the rest of the sprawling cast.
Variety reported that the casting was announced Thursday during Penguin Random House’s “Spotlight on Matt Dinniman” event at San Diego Comic-Con. It is the first casting news to surface since Peacock ordered the series last month.
Who is Princess Donut in Dungeon Crawler Carl?
Princess Donut is a tiara-wearing talking cat who once belonged to Beatrice, the ex-girlfriend of the story’s title character, Carl. After an alien attack sends Carl and the remaining human survivors underground, Donut becomes his partner in a deadly televised fight for survival.
The official logline for the Peacock series, as reported by Variety, says most of humanity has been wiped out by an alien invasion. The people left behind are pushed into an intergalactic game show where they must battle monsters, aliens, a deranged artificial intelligence and other survivors while being watched for entertainment.
Carl, described in the logline as a Coast Guard veteran, enters that nightmare with an especially odd handicap: he is barefoot and paired with his ex-girlfriend’s award-winning show cat. Donut’s full royal flourish in the show’s materials is Princess Donut the Queen Anne Chonk.
The project is described by Variety as Seth MacFarlane’s live-action Dungeon Crawler Carl TV series. Peacock has not yet announced additional cast members in the report.
Why Jeff Hays matters to Dungeon Crawler Carl fans
Hays has a built-in connection to the role because audiobook listeners already associate his performance with Donut. Variety notes that he is known to fans as the voice not only of the cat, but of every character in the audiobook versions of the series.
The numbers behind the franchise help explain why the casting is getting attention. Dinniman’s Dungeon Crawler Carl books have sold more than 14 million copies across all formats, according to Variety. The Hays-narrated audiobook series has also generated more than 140 million listening hours on Audible, the report said.
Hays is represented by Matthew N. Sugarman at Weintraub Tobin, according to Variety.
This story draws on original reporting from Variety.