The Dungeon Crawler Carl TV Series Could Make or Break the Future of LitRPG Adaptations

What It Would Take to Make a Good Dungeon Crawler Carl TV Series

Dungeon Crawler Carl already has a proven track record of being sucessfully adapted into a different format. The first audiobook for the series was released while Dinniman was “well into book four” and helped elevate it to the level of popularity we’re seeing today. Since then, the audiobook version has actually outsold print and digital copies of the books.

The success of the audiobooks can largely be attributed to the narrator, Jeff Hays, who voices almost all of the whacky characters that get introduced throughout the story. So the fact that Hays is the first official cast member of the show is a good sign that it’s headed in the right direction. Right now he’s only been given the voice of Princess Donut, but I’m hopeful they’ll bring him in for some other key roles as well.

IGN had the chance to interview Dinniman during SDCC this year and he had this to say about the casting choice: “I think Fuzzy Door would have a riot on their hands if they hadn’t cast Jeff in something. He’s so associated with that sound and that voice. Anybody else would be jarring.”

While Hays voicing Donut is definitely a positive, it’s why he’s only been confirmed to be voicing Donut so far that worries me: Fuzzy Door has already stated that the series is going to be a live-action adaptation. With Hays’ voices being the ones the majority of fans are going to automatically associate with the characters, casting someone else to play those roles could potentially be jarring. Whoever is put in these roles won’t just need to look the part, they’ll need to sound the part or risk fans being upset.

I’m not saying going for live action is a bad idea, but it’s definitely something that could be hard to get right. An animated series could have aligned better with fan expectations because of how easy it would be to slot Jeff Hays’ wonderful voices into each character. Taking the live-action route will already need to lean heavily on CGI to get everything to fit the chaotic atmosphere of each dungeon floor, so there’s still plenty of room for Hays to elevate the show beyond one role.

Speaking of CGI, I had the chance to speak to the The Wandering Inn author Pirateaba earlier this year and they shared a concern for their own LitRPG series, should it ever get adapted. “CGI or live action would surely fail given the complexities of characters,” said Pirateaba, “I could cite any number of fantasy stories that got their shot and failed. Sometimes it’s just so hard to make, other times the production elements are the problem.”

Peacock Isn’t the Biggest Streaming Service

Regardless of whether or not the Dungeon Crawler Carl series is good or bad, my larger worry for the future of the series is the streaming service its on. Most people I know have a Netflix or an HBO Max subscription already, but rarely do I hear someone talking about what they watched on Peacock last night. If this show comes out on a streaming service that the majority of folks don’t already have a subscription for, will the draw of DCC be enough to get people to subscribe?