Jeff Hays Cast as Princess Donut in 'Dungeon Crawler Carl'
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- Jeff Hays has been cast to voice Princess Donut the Cat in Peacock's live-action adaptation of Matt Dinniman's Dungeon Crawler Carl, revealed during a surprise appearance at San Diego Comic-Con's "Spotlight on Matt Dinniman" panel.
- Hays is the narrator and producer behind the LitRPG audiobook version on Audible, which has logged over 140 million listening hours.
- The Peacock series is written by Chris Yost and produced by Seth MacFarlane's Fuzzy Door, with author Dinniman serving as co-executive producer.
- Dungeon Crawler Carl has sold over 14 million copies across all formats, with Ace's print editions spending 115+ weeks on the New York Times bestseller list.
- The premise follows Coast Guard vet Carl and his ex-girlfriend's laser-eyed, tiara-wearing show cat Princess Donut as they survive a sadistic intergalactic game show after an alien invasion wipes out humanity.
- Hays is represented by Matthew N. Sugarman at Weintraub Tobin.
Why it matters: Casting the audiobook narrator — already the voice fans hear for 140 million listening hours — as the on-screen character signals Peacock is leaning into the built-in fanbase rather than recasting with a TV-name, betting that the franchise's 14 million copies sold will carry the adaptation.
