Why Princess Donut's Voice Actor Could Make or Break Dungeon Crawler Carl
Christopher Harper
Published May 17, 2026
By Published Apr 24, 2026, 9:45 PM EDT Dani Kessel Odom (they/them) is an autistic lead writer and TV critic who frequently covers sci-fi shows like Doctor Who and Pluribus, fantasy shows like The Magicians and Percy Jackson, horror, and superheroes. Their specialty is onscreen book adaptations. Their TV reviews can be found on Rotten Tomatoes.
They have covered events, such as the Denver Fan Expo. Professionals in the field, such as Damien Leone and Lucy Hale, have shared their articles. Their review for Ponies was quoted in the show's TV trailer.
In university, they majored in English Writing with a minor in psychology. They have always had a passion for analyzing TV and movies, even taking filmography and scriptwriting classes in university. They also studied and participated in onstage and onscreen acting extensively from the ages of 7 to 18.
Aside from working at Screen Rant, Dani has worked as a freelance editor and writer over the past decade, often in a ghostwriting capacity. follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap
Peacock’s upcoming show, Dungeon Crawler Carl, will need to get one casting right, or it could ruin the entire show. , and readers are celebrating. As a fan, I cannot wait to see what they do with it. I’m a little nervous about it being live-action instead of animated, but it could be really great if they used a blend of puppets and CGI.
However, the will have extremely high expectations. It will have to balance the sci-fi and fantasy elements onscreen. They cannot tone down the dark humor and absolutely unhinged parts of the book.
They cannot change the characters' personalities to make them more likable from the start. Additionally, Dungeon Crawler Carl’s cast will need to be just right. Mongo is appalled at the idea of a less-than-superb cast.
The biggest roles they’ll need to focus on for the first season are Carl, Princess Donut, Mordecai, and the System AI. Each of these will heavily impact how the show does. However, Princess Donut will be the most difficult to cast, and the actor involved could make or break the .
Princess Donut’s Casting Is More Important Than Carl’s Casting In Dungeon Crawler Carl
Princess Donut is frequently named a fan-favorite character in Dungeon Crawler Carl fan groups and on the r/DungeonCrawlerCarl subreddit. The abrasive, sarcastic character has a fantastic arc, keeping her humor and edge while also becoming vulnerable and opening up about her feelings. She has an extremely human journey of starting with walls up to protect herself and slowly letting them down.
The love that she gets makes her casting extremely difficult. In my experience, the most beloved characters are judged most harshly in adaptations. The actors chosen for Carl and Princess Donut will be held to a much higher standard. Truly, they will both make or break the show.
However, there is an added complication that makes Princess Donut’s casting more challenging and more important than Carl’s. The actor playing Carl will be able to use facial expressions and body language to convey the character’s personality and feelings. Additionally, Carl is a little bit more of a stock character than Princess Donut.
In contrast, Donut is a very unique character, whose personality is hard to replicate. Plus, any actor bringing her to life will have to relay everything through their voice alone. The production team will have to cast an actor who is extremely skilled at using their voice to convey complex, nuanced emotions without any body language or facial expressions. With those restrictions, the pool of candidates gets much smaller than it would be for Carl.
Kelly Bishop Would Be The Perfect Princess Donut Voice Actor
Fancasting for the has been going on since the show was originally announced, and one name has repeatedly come up for Princess Donut: Kelly Bishop. The actor has already played characters with the same prickly and abrasive yet secretly emotional personality.
, Fanny in Bunheads, and Benedetta in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel all feel like variations of Princess Donut in human form. The way Bishop describes Emily Gilmore in an interview with feels like she could just as easily be describing the Dungeon Crawler Carl character. She explains that Emily’s exterior was just a front, hiding her vulnerabilities.
"Of course, it's sort of that thing of being stronger than the other people or 'I'll scare you before you scare me' sort of thing. So when we actually started talking in some dialogue and we started to realize that Emily really did have a heart down there someplace, it was really delightful, and it made perfect sense to me. Of course, she's a human being."
What’s more, Kelly Bishop has worked in a voice-only medium when she narrated her memoir, and it went over extremely well. The critically acclaimed audiobook was praised by viewers and critics alike for Bishop’s narration. She was able to convey emotions very clearly without any facial expressions or body language, sucking audiences into the moment that she’s describing in her book.
If she brought that same energy to Dungeon Crawler Carl, Kelly Bishop would easily be able to establish Princess Donut as the heart of the TV show, just like she is in the books.
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