DUNGEON CRAWLER CARL Series Heads to Peacock With Seth MacFarlane and Chris Yost Steering the Chaos
If you’ve been waiting to see chaos, monsters, and a very judgmental talking cat explode onto your screen, it’s officially happening. Dungeon Crawler Carl is moving forward as a live-action TV series at Peacock, bringing Matt Dinniman’s wildly entertaining LitRPG saga one step closer to reality.
The adaptation has been circling development for a bit, but now it’s landed with a streaming home. Originally picked up by Universal International Studios in early 2025, the project didn’t have a platform attached at the time. That’s changed.
Chris Yost, known for his work on comic book adaptations and animated hits, is writing and executive producing the series. He’s joined by Seth MacFarlane under his Fuzzy Door banner, with Erica Huggins also executive producing.
Dinniman himself is staying involved as an executive producer, which is always a good sign when you want the adaptation to actually feel like the source material.
For anyone unfamiliar with the books, the premise is gloriously unhinged in the best way possible. Here’s the official description:
“An alien invasion has wiped out most of humanity and any survivors are forced to fight for their lives on a sadistic intergalactic game show. Sounds bad, right? Now try doing it with bare feet and a stuck-up, self-centered, tiara-wearing talking cat as your partner.
“Welcome to Dungeon Crawler World: Earth, where the apocalypse will be televised … and Coast Guard vet Carl finds himself stuck with his ex-girlfriend’s award-winning show cat, Princess Donut the Queen Anne Chonk, as they try to survive the end of the world, fighting monsters, aliens, an insane A.I. and even other survivors … all for the sake of good TV. Survival is optional. Entertainment is not.”
It’s as insane and fun as it sounds. The book series has been steadily growing, with seven entries already released and an eighth arriving on May 12. Dinniman has said he’s planning for a total of ten books, which gives the show plenty of material to pull from if it catches on.
One of the big questions fans have had is whether a live-action version can actually capture the madness of the story. Between alien game masters, brutal dungeon runs, and a talking cat with attitude, it’s not exactly an easy adaptation. Dinniman seems aware of that concern and isn’t interested in cutting corners:
“[We’re] not going to do it if it’s gonna look like absolute shit,” he said. “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.”
Between Ted and The Orville, MacFarlane’s team has already proven they can blend live-action with CG characters and sci-fi elements without it falling apart.
Now it comes down to execution. If they nail the tone and bring Princess Donut to life in a way that doesn’t feel weird or distracting, this could end up being one of the more unique and crazy fun genre series.