In June 2026, Peacock gave a straight-to-series order for an adaptation of the popular book franchise, Dungeon Crawler Carl. Seth MacFarlane will produce through his company, Fuzzy Door Productions. The show, an adaptation of a popular eight-book series, has become one of the most anticipated adaptations in development, with the Peacock series recruiting a pair of writers who, between them, have written for the MCU and Star Wars, and have an Oscar nomination. Deadline reports that Christopher Yost and Eric Heisserer will serve as showrunners for Dungeon Crawler Carl. Yost was previously attached to the project in February 2026, and his credits include Thor, Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender, and multiple Star Wars series, including The Mandalorian, Star Wars: The Bad Batch, and Star Wars: Maul — Shadow Lord. Heisserer is best known for writing the 2016 film Arrival, for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. Heisserer also wrote the screenplays for Final Destination 5, Lights Out, and Bird Box, and previously developed the hit Netflix series, Shadow & Bone.

Ace Books

Dungeon Crawler Carl is a sci-fi fantasy comedy book by author Matt Dinniman. The story follows Carl and his ex-girlfriend’s cat, Princess Donut, two of the few survivors of Earth after the human race was wiped out by a galaxy-spanning organization known as the Syndicate, which mined the planet for resources. The duo is forced to compete in a dungeon crawl created for an intergalactic reality series. Originally self-published online, Dungeon Crawler Carl and its seven sequels were acquired by Ace Books in 2024. The eight books have sold over 14 million copies, with the first book on The New York Times Best Seller list for 19 consecutive weeks. Dungeon Crawler Carl was nominated for an Arthur C. Clarke Award in 2026.

Dungeon Crawler Carl is seemingly Peacock’s attempt to compete with big-budget fantasy titles like HBO’s House of the Dragon and Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. While Peacock has canceled many high-profile television programs over the past few months, including Poker Face and Seth MacFarlane’s own series Ted, it has found success with the Jennifer Garner-led The Five-Star Weekend and The Office spin-off The Paper. Given the popularity of the book series alongside Yost and Heisserer’s impressive resume, Peacock might have a big hit on their hands with Dungeon Crawler Carl.

Network

Peacock

Writers

Chris Yost