Centaurworld Creator Megan Nicole Dong Talks Season 2, That Finale, and Comfortable Doug

And just like that, Centaurworld, the musical comedy animated series from Netflix, is over. In case you somehow missed it, Season 2 was released earlier this month, bringing the total number of episodes to just 18 with the series finale coming in significantly longer than other episodes. The adventures of Horse, Wammawink, Glendale, Durpleton, Ched, and Zulius might be done for now, but creator and showrunner Megan Nicole Dong would love the opportunity to do more in the future. ComicBook.com had the opportunity to speak with her earlier this month all about the show, that wild finale, and, of course, Comfortable Doug.

Warning: Beyond this point, there be major spoilers for both seasons of Centaurworld but especially Season 2.

In the wide-ranging interview, Megan Nicole Dong discusses Durpleton’s new son/pet, the fate of The Nowhere King, breaking cycles, and more. That “more” includes the explanation of Comfortable Doug’s names — yes, plural — as well as a shockingly detailed account of how the season’s silliest moment came to be.

As noted above, the two seasons of Centaurworld are now available to stream via Netflix, but you can check out all of our previous coverage of the animated series right here.

Have you had a chance to watch the second season of Centaurworld yet? Would you have liked to see even more of the series? Let us know in the comments, or feel free to reach out and hit me up directly over on Twitter at @rollinbishop to talk about all things animation! And keep reading to check out our full interview with showrunner and creator Megan Nicole Dong about all things Centaurworld!

The following interview was lightly edited for length and clarity.

On Whether Centaurworld Is Truly Over

ComicBook.com: This is it, right? This is the end of Centaurworld.

Megan Nicole Dong: Yeah. I would obviously love to make more, but this is it. This is what we made.

In that case, follow-up question, how did you get away with this? Centaurworld feels truly, like in a vast world of animation, pretty unique.

We were lucky to have a lot of support at the studio and I went into this with a pretty specific vision and idea, and everyone from our team and from the studio was really supportive in helping us see this through. But, yeah. I know what you mean though. There’s a lot going on.

On Phillip J. Bonecrunch

There is a lot going on! Speaking of which, who do I need to petition to get a Phillip J. Bonecrunch plushie? Where do I sign?

I personally would love plushies of many of the characters, but particularly Stabby, AKA Phillip J. Bonecrunch, is a plushie that’s on the top of my list.

Did you always know that Sir Bonecrunch would become such an integral part of Durpleton’s “growth” as a character, let’s say?

Yes. Durpleton was a character that we knew had, I guess, daddy issues, which is kind of hinted at in Season 1. We felt that for him sort of becoming a father was going to be a big part of his growth. Honestly, that whole storyline was inspired by some D&D campaigns that I’d played in where me and a lot of my friends always ended up adopting goblins or other things that we weren’t supposed to. That was part of the inspiration for the storyline, like, “What if one of our characters ended up either adopting or bringing on… Is he a pet? Is he a son?” I don’t quite know but that was kind of where that idea initially came from.

That’s extremely funny. I know the situation well. At the end of every campaign it’s like, “OK, so what do we do with the strays?”

Yes, exactly.

On the Rise of Comfortable Doug

Getting away from Durpleton for a moment here, was Comfortable Doug always such an integral part of the show? Or did his initial creation end up with the crew so enamored that you just had to bring him back over and over for Season 2?

That’s an interesting question, because many of the storylines we’ve had from the beginning… We really had stuff designed, we always knew where stuff was going, but Comfortable Doug specifically was one that everyone fell in love with. We always loved who the character was, the name is funny, but once we started working with Flula [Borg] and all of our storyboard artists and our whole crew was drawing the character, we knew that we wanted to give him a slightly meatier role later. So he was one character specifically who started coming back a lot more in Season 2.

On Birdtaurs and Fandom

Was that also sort of the impetus for the whole fandom episode with the birdtaurs?

One fun thing about Season 2 was we got to do some more meta things like the birdtaurs. That was part of the fun of starting to figure out once you’ve already established this world, how far can you push it, in Season 2, in terms of silliness. I think for the birdtaurs, we thought it would be kind of funny for them to encounter this whole next level of… It’s just kind of a meta thing like having fandom, having a Herd-Con, and all of that. If you actually go back in Season 1, you can see Bayden in a lot of the backgrounds flying around in many of the episodes from Season 1. So we did want to really imply that they’d been watched the entire time.

On the Origins of Comfortable Doug and Flat Dallas

Speaking of Comfortable Doug, he’s both comfortable and he’s named Doug, so that tracks. Flat Dallas. Can you explain Flat Dallas? He’s not exactly flat.

I mean, his tone of voice is a bit flat. [laughs]

Oh! Mm, yep. OK.

If you want to know the origin of the name “Comfortable Doug” and the name “Flat Dallas,” those were actually… I think for Comfortable Doug, a writer that I was working with at the very beginning… It was in one of those situations where I walked into a conversation where he was talking about cartoons that he enjoyed. He said he liked watching the show Doug because it was comfortable. But all I had heard from that conversation was “Comfortable Doug” and that just stuck with me. Then Flat Dallas, again, far into working on the show, I walked into a conversation with a recording engineer and our voice director talking about the city Dallas and how it’s kind of flat. Then someone referred to it as “Flat Dallas” and I thought that would be a good name for an alter ego.

That’s the scoop right there.

Yeah.

On Rider and the Finale

Let’s talk that finale. Lots of unexpected twists and turns, extra long. Can you explain the thinking behind the bait and switch with Rider’s death, which was not a death?

Yeah. That was something that we’d always planned from the beginning. In terms of the show’s tone there’s so much going on. There’s a lot of absurdity. There’s the music and there’s all this darkness. One thing that we always looked to were the character relationships, what the stakes were for the characters, and themes of sacrifice, loss… kind of flow throughout the show.

Horse and Rider, throughout the entire thing, they’re right at death’s door. Everything is super dangerous for them. It was a moment that I really wanted to be in there, not just storytelling-wise, but I think it’s something that really is in music. In musical theater, death scenes or, in certain cases, near-death scenes, those are incredibly specific and powerful. That was something that we always wanted to have in there, a moment for them to share musically, but also for the story.

On the Resolution of The Nowhere King

Then there’s the Nowhere King. I think it’s always interesting, especially in modern animation, how villains are treated… Despite the return to his original form and seeming dispersal of his power – it’s off-screen, but the implication is that the mysterious woman, who we learn married the general, straight-up kills him. So in your mind, there’s no redemption arc for the Nowhere King, I guess?

That was something we discussed a lot and went back and forth on. This might actually answer your previous question a bit too, but a big thing for the show, thematically, was the idea of breaking cycles. For Horse and Rider, they’ve been in this cycle of death a lot. In the background of the whole series, there’s a lot of death happening and a lot of destruction. The Nowhere King and the Woman’s story, it’s a very dark and twisted sort of fairy tale. There aren’t a lot of romantic relationships featured in the show and this one happens to be one that is certainly not healthy.

For Nowhere King, I think, given that his story has created so much death and so much destruction, that character, I think, had reached the end of his cycle. To me, the Nowhere King is not the character that is beyond redemption. It’s more the general is, and the general is definitely a part of that character. I think it was important for that cycle to end. I think it was also important for Horse to not be the one to continue killing and doing all of that, but I also feel like the Woman’s story and the Nowhere King’s story was… I feel like that relationship had to end and that cycle had to end.

On the True Antagonist of Centaurworld

It’s interesting you describe it like that. It sounds like, in your mind, the general is the real antagonist of the series. He wouldn’t kill the Nowhere King. It’s implied he wouldn’t do it during all of this death and destruction, and at any point he could have, and ended the cycle himself, but wouldn’t.

I think that to me anyway he’s more of the villain of the story. That character, his backstory, it’s complex. The finale, it’s long and it’s complex. I think that the concept of splitting a character like that too is one that was really interesting to grapple with. Like the idea of making a choice like that, of rejecting oneself, it’s kind of like the opposite of what Horse’s journey was, where Horse learned to embrace parts of herself that she suppressed before and learned from her loved ones. But, instead, the Nowhere King has chosen to reject part of himself and that’s something that’s ultimately very toxic.

And antithetical to the whole concept of Centaurworld, right?

Yes.

On the Length of the Finale

Was there ever any concern, as you were pulling this together, that you were putting too much in that final episode rather than peppering it throughout?

We always wanted it to end with something that felt a little bit more like a movie in length and in pacing. We wanted to answer some of these questions that we knew people were going to have. We didn’t feel like it would be right to end things without answering some questions about who the Nowhere King is, about why the worlds were separated, and all of that. So, yeah. That’s why we chose to do it the way that we did.

On What Was Left Unexplored

Was there anything that didn’t quite make it in the two seasons here that you would’ve loved to explore more of?

Honestly, it would’ve been nice and it would be nice if we ever got the chance to make more just to really explore more of the world, because there would be other lands and completely other groups of centaurs, like other communities throughout the world that I think would’ve been really fun to meet, I guess. It was fun getting into Season 2 and meeting the horsetaurs, the birdtaurs, and going up to the Arctic and meeting the coldtaurs, and meeting all these different communities, and seeing how they play off of the herd.

On What’s Next

With Centaurworld done, what is next for you?

I don’t have a definitive answer for that yet, but I have a lot that I would love to do. I love new challenges and trying to push things and get out of my comfort zone all the time. So I would love to… Features is something I’m interested in, going back into doing comics is something that I would love to do more of. Yeah, I’m sort of trying to figure out what happens next, but all I know is that I want it to be something different from what I’ve done before.

So certainly not the end of, I believe the name was when I saw the tag featuring Comfortable Doug, Sketchshark Productions

Yeah. I definitely want to keep making content.

On Horse Farts and Backstory Magic

This is getting extremely granular, but I have to ask, the funniest scene in the finale: Horse farts and The Nowhere King lights a match. [long pause] Can you walk me through-

[laughs] How did that happen?

Yeah. Yeah! A little bit.

So in the first place we thought that traveling into character’s backstories might do a number on one’s GI tract. So we had this idea that Horse might be having some gas. But if she wound up inside the Nowhere King that she was really kind of okay with letting that happen.

When we wanted to introduce this kind of backstory, Elk-version of the Nowhere King inside of him, we really tried to think about what his behavior would be like. We knew that he was probably going to be more polite than she was expecting, but we also realized he probably hasn’t talked to anyone in a long time and would be a little bit awkward. I think in the writer’s room, just the idea of him lighting a match, that’s just what we thought the first thing someone who hasn’t had any company for a long time might do – to just shamelessly light a match when an unexpected guest shows up and lets it rip, I guess.

On Takeaways From Centaurworld’s Conclusion

What do you hope people take away from Season 2 and the conclusion of Centaurworld?

Oh, so many things. I really wanted to make a story that was about found family and friendship at the center of it. In Season 2, specifically, imposter syndrome is a big theme. With Horse, again, thinking that she’s supposed to do things a certain way and, in her case, realizing that she has to step back and trust those around her, because if Season 1 was about finding your family, then Season 2 is really about learning to trust your family and learning how to trust yourself as well.

I think that Horse spends a lot of time in Season 2 worrying that she’s not doing enough or doubting herself when in fact she has to actually learn to break some of the old patterns and cycles that she’s been born into prior to this. I’m also excited for people to find out more about the side characters; about Rider, and Waterbaby, and the herd. So, yeah. That’s what I’m excited about in Season 2.

On Success and the Possibility of More

Obviously other than it hitting the top of Netflix’s Top 10 for several weeks in a row, what would make Centaurworld, as a whole, a success for you?

For me, I think it’s not about numbers or anything. It’s more about the specific engagement that we’ve had with our fans or people that it’s spoken to. For me, what makes it a success, in my mind, is hearing from people who’ve watched it with both their parents and their kids and just knowing that it is a family viewing experience. Knowing that we have fans who are definitely adults and then hearing from kids who love the show. That’s what’s been the most exciting for me.

Speaking of fans, you’d mentioned many times that you’d love to do more Centaurworld. How do people, I guess, let Netflix know that other than just watching it a bunch?

I think just watching it a bunch and talking about it is probably the best thing for the show or for any of the shows on the platform, because I know with streaming it’s kind of a different beast than the networks that a lot of us had worked at before. But, yeah. I think just talking about it, sharing, and continuing to watch the show, and telling people’s friends about it, that’s the best thing for us.

Herd-Con 2022, right?

Yes, exactly.

Final Thoughts

Is there anything else you would like to say about Centaurworld, about your experience with it? Anything at all?

The only thing I’d add is just that I feel like the show is unique, like you said, and I feel like the process of making it was truly special or it was different than anything that I’d ever worked on before. I hope that there’s more content like it in that I hope that studios like Netflix continue to take chances on stuff that doesn’t quite fit into one box, because for our cast and crew, it was apparent that everyone was having a lot of fun. I think that kind of joy translated to some of what was put on-screen. So, yeah. I had a really great experience making the show.