‘Dungeon Crawler Carl’ Just Landed a Big Name to Help Steer the Show

Peacock’s live-action adaptation of “Dungeon Crawler Carl” has been one of the more closely tracked book-to-screen projects moving through Hollywood this year, thanks in large part to the source material’s rabid online fanbase. Matt Dinniman’s self-published LitRPG series turned into a genuine publishing phenomenon, and every step of its TV development has drawn attention from fans eager to see how the chaotic, satirical world makes the jump to screen.

That development has moved quickly since the series first landed at Peacock earlier this year. The show received a straight-to-series order back in June, and casting news has trickled out steadily in the months since, keeping fans engaged as the production takes shape behind the scenes.

According to Variety, the “Dungeon Crawler Carl” TV series has set Netflix’s “Shadow and Bone” creator Eric Heisserer as co-showrunner, joining previously announced writer Chris Yost in leading the adaptation. Heisserer will executive produce alongside Yost, Seth MacFarlane, Erica Huggins, and Rachel Hargreaves-Heald for Fuzzy Door, with Dinniman serving as co-executive producer on the project.

Heisserer brings a substantial genre-adaptation résumé to the role. He most recently served as showrunner, executive producer, and creator of Netflix’s “Shadow and Bone,” which adapted Leigh Bardugo’s Grishaverse novels across two seasons in 2021 and 2023. Beyond that, he wrote the screenplay for Netflix’s “Bird Box,” which remains one of the streamer’s most-watched films ever, and earned an Oscar nomination for adapted screenplay on Denis Villeneuve’s “Arrival.”

Yost, who joined the project when it first landed at Peacock back in April, brings his own genre pedigree to the pairing, with writing credits spanning “The Mandalorian” and multiple contributions to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Together, the two showrunners now anchor a writers’ room that reportedly received an overwhelming 750 submissions from writers hoping to land one of just a handful of available slots.

The series adapts Dinniman’s bestselling books, which follow the official logline: an alien invasion wipes out most of humanity, forcing survivors to fight for their lives on a sadistic intergalactic game show. Coast Guard veteran Carl finds himself teamed up with his ex-girlfriend’s prize-winning show cat, Princess Donut, as the two navigate monsters, aliens, and an unhinged artificial intelligence while the apocalypse plays out as televised entertainment.

Dinniman’s own path to this adaptation has been a notably unconventional one. The story originated back in 2019 as vignettes he self-published on a digital platform, something he worked on as a hobby while holding down his day job as a sketch artist at cat shows, before eventually growing into a New York Times bestselling series that caught Hollywood’s attention.

Casting has already begun taking shape around the new showrunning team, with Jeff Hays recently announced in the role of Princess Donut. With Heisserer and Yost now both locked in to guide the show’s creative direction, and a deep bench of interested writers vying for remaining room spots, “Dungeon Crawler Carl” appears to be assembling exactly the kind of genre-savvy team needed to bring Dinniman’s chaotic, satirical universe to life on screen.

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