BBC America’s US adaptation of Douglas Adams’ beloved Dirk Gently novels has found the holistic detective’s irascible sidekick Todd. Wait. Who the hell is Todd?
Well, he’s a companion that writer Max Landis has created for the show. The press release has plenty to say about Dirk’s “reluctant assistant” Todd:
He’s not a sidekick. Todd’s just flat out better than Dirk at a lot of things. He always attempts to solve matters with the fewest steps possible; despite being a compassionate, sweet, smarter-than-average man with biting wit, Todd often finds himself at the intersection of morally gray crossroads. Thus, his bad habits of lying and stealing have dire consequences that he can’t put off forever, even though he tries. Todd’s not a bad person. He’s not a good person yet, either, but he’ll get there.
As Todd describes himself to Dirk Gently: “I am not your Watson, asshole. I am not available for side-kicking on something I am not involved with. I am my own messed up person with my own messed up problems.”
Sounds very Max Landis-y, but to be fair, even the BBC’s recent TV adaptation of Dirk Gently gave Dirk a sidekick. It’s a bit more entertaining to watch two people discuss a mystery than to watch one person think about a mystery (at least on TV).
Hopefully, we’ll learn who’s playing Dirk soon. Will he also be American? Will he be a transplanted Brit? Will he be Max Landis in a clever wig? Time will tell, presumably.