If I'm going to stay with a series for the long haul, I need to be invested in the characters. In the case of Dungeon Crawler Carl, the long haul is eight books and counting. I'm finally caught up on the series after starting it last year, and fully intend to see it through to the hopefully-not-that-bitter end. A big reason for that has to do with the relationship between Carl and Princess Donut. The man and cat pair have my heart, without question. So to learn that author Matt Dinniman didn't originally plan to keep them together through this chaotic journey kind of floors me! (Mongo is appalled!) It's also an understatement to say that I'm relieved he saw what he had in this dynamic duo and kept them paired.
CinemaBlend attended the aptly titled "Audible: Goddamnit, Donut: A Totally Professional Panel with Matt Dinniman and Jeff Hays" at Comic-Con in San Diego this month, and in addition to being treated to a live demonstration of Jeff Hays' incredible talent as narrator of the audiobooks for the series, attendees got to hear Matt Dinniman share some insights about writing the book, including what he originally had in mind for Carl's ex-girlfriend's cat Donut.
From what Dinniman said, when asked about Carl and Donut, he initially planned to have them separate pretty early on in the story:
Honestly, I wasn't expecting Donut to stay as such a major character. When I first had them enter the dungeon, my original plan was to maybe that have her kind of disappear and then come back in a later book as like super powerful, and it would've been funny.
Funny, I have no doubt, but it also would've been a very different series. There are certainly characters who come in and out of the story throughout the DCC books, but Carl and Donut are almost always together.
Dinniman went on to explain his choice not to have them go their separate ways:
But, right when I started writing that first scene where she talks, and she's like completely insufferable -- but then she has like kind of a moment of vulnerability when Carl does what Carl does. And he's like, 'You know what, fuck this, you're gonna go this way, I'm gonna go that way,' I thought, no, no, I'm gonna keep her around, because I think this is pretty cool.
If your memory of the first book is rusty, it isn't long after Donut completes her transformation and is able to speak that Carl decides it might be better for the two of them to go their separate ways. At this early point in the story, she'd changed his title to Royal Bodyguard, referred to him as her "manservant," and berated him for not wearing pants. Now that she wasn't quite as helpless as she seemed pre-transformation, Carl was ready to sever ties. Then Donut humbled herself enough to admit she needed him and didn't want to do this alone, which changed his mind. We all know deep down Carl's a softie for Donut.
I wouldn't say that Princess Donut never talked down to Carl again after that, but their relationship certainly did soften a bit as more trust was established. Despite their differing personalities and often different approaches to surviving the Dungeon, Carl and Donut really are a compatible duo. As I said, it's their connection that is one of the reasons I'm so invested in the series.
Naturally, I'm relieved Matt Dinniman saw the value in keeping them together, rather than making Donut more of a supporting character in the story. I love hearing authors discuss the choices they made in their stories, especially as it relates to the characters and what they learn about them throughout the writing process.
I'm excited to see how Princess Donut is brought to life on the small screen when the Dungeon Crawler Carl TV show arrives for those of us with a Peacock subscription. We know that Jeff Hays will reprise voicing the character for the book-to-screen adaptation (no word on if he'll voice any other characters yet!). Of course, we're still waiting for word on who will play Carl. I have to wonder what the list looks like for possible options. As long as whoever he is has the kind of chemistry we know and love between Carl and Donut on the page, I'll be happy.
