I've been getting caught up on the Dungeon Crawler Carl books over the past few months (I'm partway through A Parade of Horribles right now), and am obviously fully on board with the LitRPG series. I've also been among the fans who are as hopeful to see the story adapted as we are hopeful it's adapted well. I'm not sure how they'll make it work, but I want to see it happen.
Well, there is a plan for a book-to-screen adaptation of Matt Dinniman’s beloved series, and the updates about the project are actually really good. From what we’ve heard so far, while it’s very unlikely we’d see this series on the 2026 TV schedule, I really hope it does get made, because the story would make for such a fun TV show.
Newer updates will come first in the guide below. If you’re looking for information and my thoughts on the book series, you can find that further down.
NEW Achievement: The Dungeon Crawler Carl TV show has cast Jeff Hays To Voice Princess Donut
I was hoping SDCC would be the place for the TV series to unlock a cast announcement achievement, and it was! At San Diego Comic Con today, it was announced that Jeff Hays would voice the role of Princess Donut, Carl's feline partner in this chaotic journey. It looks like Hays joined the panel following the big news, which must have been a real treat for everyone in the room. This is the first bit of casting to be announced about the TV show, and it's clear they've started things off on the right paw. Matt Dinniman shared the good news in the Instagram post above.
As a big fan of the DCC audiobooks, I don't think they could've found a more perfect person to voice Princess Donut than Jeff Hays. If you haven't listened to the audiobooks, I highly recommend checking them out. Hays does a masterful job voicing the various characters in the books, including Carl and Donut. He very much set the bar high for her voice, so it only makes sense that he be the one to meet the standard for the TV adaptation.
Now, who will play Carl?
Things We Know About The Dungeon Crawler Carl TV Show
- Dungeon Crawler Carl is being adapted for a TV show at Peacock
- Seth MacFarlane, Erica Huggins and are producing through Fuzzy Door productions
- Chris Yost is writing and executive producing the series.
- The great audiobook narrator Jeff Hays will voice the role of Princess Donut the Queen Anne Chonk
- Carl has not been cast yet. No other characters have been cast besides Donut.
- Mongo is undoubtedly appalled.
Peacock Officially Ordered The Dungeon Crawler Carl Adaptation To Series (June 2026)
As steps to getting an adaptation from page to screen -- or a TV show made in general -- this is a big one, Crawlers. We've known since April that Peacock was the streaming platform circling the adaptation of Dungeon Crawler Carl. This month (June), Seth MacFarlane and Matt Dinniman shared the good news that the streamer had officially greenlit the series. THR's update on the news notes that it'll be a live-action show, and confirmed that Chris Yost was set to write and executive produce.
In Matt Dinniman's celebratory post, he mentioned that he'd have more updates on the project in the coming weeks, though he didn't elaborate on that. He did mention that he and Yost would be at San Diego Comic-Con for a panel.
WARNING: The following text is just my excited speculation, so take it with a grain of salt, but... wouldn't SDCC be a great place to announce something like a cast member or two? Maybe it's too soon to hope for that, but I'm going to hope for it anyway. In truth, any updates about what Yost has planned for the show will be welcome and exciting!
SDCC kicks off on July 23rd this year. In the meantime, let's continue to hope that things work out for the adaptation! I'll continue to share updates as we see them.
- Below you can find previously posted updates to the Dungeon Crawler Carl TV show.
The Dungeon Crawler Carl TV Show Has A Streaming Platform (April 2026)
At this point DCC TV series is still considered "in development," meaning it's in the early stages of being adapted. Not to be a downer, but plans could fall through -- it happens. What we want to see from this project is steps forward, and as of April, The Dungeon Crawler Carl TV show is still in the works. In fact, according to an April 2026 report from Variety, the series adaptation is now in development for Peacock. In February, Matt Dinniman mentioned that a streaming platform was involved, though he couldn't say which one at the time.
Variety notes that Chris Yost is set to write and executive produce -- we knew that already, but it's good to know that hasn't changed -- and Seth MacFarlane is executive producing through Fuzzy Door. That's about it for updated information, but a streaming platform is a great step forward! If I were the drinking type and not in the middle of a workday, I'd mix myself a Dirty Shirley to celebrate.
Matt Dinniman Updates Fans That Scripts For The DCC Show Have Been Written (February 2026)
Speaking to Variety while promoting his recent book release, Operation Bounce House – not a DCC book, but if you’re a Matt Dinniman fan, definitely check it out – Dinniman shared an update on the status of the Dungeon Crawler Carl TV adaptation. Some of the key takeaways from what he said were:
- Chris Yost has written a few episodes already.
- There is a streaming service involved but Dinniman doesn’t mention what it is.
- He says they’re getting close to the point where a decision has to be made on whether or not the show will move forward.
- CGI testing and other things need to be done.
That last point brings us to the topic of whether this planned show will be live-action or animated. From what Dinniman told Variety, it sounds like they're aware that fans are mixed on which format they'd prefer to see the story be adapted, but doing it as live-action could be for the best, if they can get it right:
If you actually poll people out on the street, it’s going to be a pretty high number of live action. But that’s really high risk, high reward, because we’re not going to do it if it’s gonna look like absolute shit. And they will do CGI testing on Princess Donut and stuff like that. And that’s all I can say, I think. It’s all gonna hinge on what it looks like. But Fuzzy Door, specifically, if you watch ‘Ted’ or ‘The Orville, ‘you’ll see that they know what they’re doing when it comes to this. So I would say, don’t knock it till you try it.
While it sounds like live-action is the intention, we’ll have to wait and see if that actually works out. As Variety pointed out, this adaptation has not been ordered to series yet, so it’s too soon to know with any kind of certainty if we’ll get to see this sci-fi series streaming someday.
A Dungeon Crawler Carl TV Show Is In The Works, With Chris Yost Set To Adapt (August 2024)
In August 2024, Deadline announced that Universal International Studios picked up the rights to adapt Dungeon Crawler Carl for a TV Show with Seth MacFarlane’s Fuzzy Door. The report didn’t go into specifics about what was planned, but did include confirmation that Christopher Yost would be penning the adaptation. Yost’s big screen credits include Thor: The Dark World and Thor: Ragnarok. His TV credits include The Mandalorian, Netflix’s live-action Cowboy Bebop series, and Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
What Dungeon Crawler Carl Is About
The story begins with a guy (Carl) narrowly surviving an alien attack and finding himself, along with his girlfriend’s cat, Princess Donut, forced underground with what’s left of the human race to compete in a to-the-death multi-leveled competition. That he’s in his boxer shorts during this ordeal seems relevant to mention, as does the fact that Princess Donut soon gains the ability to speak, which brings her into the story as a full-fledged character – a cat-character, to be sure, but a character nonetheless. Together, they face various challenges and scary beings from across the universe, and they’re doing their best to try not to die.
The rules and structure of the game that Carl and Donut are forced to participate in involve a lot of sci-fi and fantasy components you might find in a role-playing game – hence the LitRPG genre label for the series. There are ways Carl and Princess Donut can gain abilities, allies and powers (like Donut’s ability to speak), and other achievements and prizes to be earned as they face a myriad of foes and fantastical challenges. Also, it’s all being broadcast across the universe like a TV show, so there’s a production element to everything, which adds a layer of total WTF-ery to the whole ordeal in a really fun way.
Do You Need To Be A Video Game Fan To Enjoy This Series?
In recent years, the types of video games I typically play are things like The Sims and Mario Kart. I also have a mild-moderate obsession with Balatro on my phone, and I do a bit of VR fishing while listening to a book from time to time (it’s my happy place). Maybe that’s a fair amount of casual gaming, but I don’t consider myself to be big into RPGs (unless you count The Sims, though the nature of that game doesn’t feel super relevant to DCC); however, I’m completely into this series.
It’s just a lot of fun, thanks in large part to Carl and Princess Donut’s hilarious dynamic and the ever-shifting subterranean world they’re navigating. In short, while I’m sure that a love of or even general familiarity with RPGs would enhance your appreciation of the series, I really don’t think it’s a requirement to enjoy it. At least, it hasn’t been for me. If the description of the plot sounds fun to you, give it a try.
Should You Listen To The DCC Audiobooks?
I can’t speak to the experience of reading the physical DCC books because I’ve been listening to the audiobooks, and they’re so great that I fully intend to continue that approach. Jeff Hays’ narration is top-tier for this story, as he really brings Carl and Donut to life, so if you’re an audiobook reader, that’s my personal recommendation. But the series is also available for Kindle and in paperback and hardcover.
The Dungeon Crawler Carl Books In Order
Dungeon Crawler Carl (2020) |
Carl’s Doomsday Scenario (2021) |
The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook (2021) |
The Gate of the Feral Gods (2021) |
The Butcher’s Masquerade (2022) |
The Eye of the Bedlam Bride (2023) |
This Inevitable Ruin (2024) |
A Parade of Horribles (2026) |
