‘Dungeon Crawler Carl’ TV Series Lands at Peacock (EXCLUSIVE)

The live-action “Dungeon Crawler Carl” TV series is now officially in development at Peacock, Variety has learned.

Based on the LitRPG book series of the same name by Matt Dinniman, the project was originally acquired by Universal International Studios in early 2025, though no network or streamer was attached at that time.

As previously reported, Chris Yost will write and executive produce the series, with Seth MacFarlane set to executive produce under his Fuzzy Door banner. Dinniman is also an EP, as is Fuzzy Door’s Erica Huggins. Rachel Hargreaves-Heald will serve as executive in charge of production for Fuzzy Door.

The official logline for the show states:

“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.”

News of the show being set up at Peacock comes not long after Dinnman told Variety in an interview that the project was “close to the point where a decision needs to be made, like contracts needs to be made, whether or not they’re going to go ahead.”

There have been seven entries in the “Dungeon Crawler Carl” book series to date, with the eighth set to be released on May 12. Dinnman has previously indicated that he plans to release 10 books overall in the series.

Dinnman also addressed fans who were concerned about the prospect of a live-action series versus an animated one, given the fantasy nature of the books. But Dinnman expressed his confidence in MacFarlane’s ability to bring the books to life.

“[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.”

Yost is repped by Verve and Industry Entertainment. Dinnman is repped by WME. MacFarlane and Huggins are repped by WME, Joy Fehily Management & Consulting, and Jackoway Austen Tyerman.