I'm Excited For The Dungeon Crawler Carl TV Show, And I'm Keeping Track The Updates

Just a few chapters into the first Dungeon Crawler Carl book, I knew I needed to see this story adapted to the screen. I don’t know how it’d work, but I want to see it happen. Well, there is a plan for a book-to-screen adaptation of Carl Dinniman’s beloved LitRPG series, and a recent update on the topic. I’m still making my way through the audiobooks of the series, but in the meantime, I wanted to keep track of the updates on the adaptation. From what we’ve heard so far, while it’s very unlikely we’d see this series on the 2026 TV schedule, given the stage of development it’s in, I really hope it does get made, because the story would make for such a fun TV show.

Newer updates will come first in the guide below. If you’re looking for information and my thoughts on the book series, you can find that further down.

Matt Dinniman Updates Fans That Scripts For The DCC Show Have Been Written (February 2026)

Speaking to Variety while promoting his recent book release, Operation Bounce House – not a DCC book, but if you’re a Matt Dinniman fan, definitely check it out – Dinniman shared an update on the status of the Dungeon Crawler Carl TV adaptation. Some of the key takeaways from what he said were:

• Chris Yost has written a few episodes already.
• There is a streaming service involved but Dinniman doesn’t mention what it is.
• He says they’re getting close to the point where a decision has to be made on whether or not the show will move forward.
• CGI testing and other things need to be done.

That last point brings us to the topic of whether this planned show will be live-action or animated. From what Dinniman told Variety, it sounds like they're aware that fans are mixed on which format they'd prefer to see the story be adapted, but doing it as live-action could be for the best, if they can get it right:

While it sounds like live-action is the intention, we’ll have to wait and see if that actually works out. As Variety pointed out, this adaptation has not been ordered to series yet, so it’s too soon to know with any kind of certainty if we’ll get to see this sci-fi series streaming someday.

A Dungeon Crawler Carl TV Show Is In The Works, With Chris Yost Set To Adapt (August 2024)

In August 2024, Deadline announced that Universal International Studios picked up the rights to adapt Dungeon Crawler Carl for a TV Show with Seth MacFarlane’s Fuzzy Door. The report didn’t go into specifics about what was planned, but did include confirmation that Christopher Yost would be penning the adaptation. Yost’s big screen credits include Thor: The Dark World and Thor: Ragnarok. His TV credits include The Mandalorian, Netflix’s live-action Cowboy Bebop series, and Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

What Dungeon Crawler Carl Is About

The story begins with a guy (Carl) narrowly surviving an alien attack and finding himself, along with his girlfriend’s cat, Princess Donut, forced underground with what’s left of the human race to compete in a to-the-death multi-leveled competition. That he’s in his boxer shorts during this ordeal seems relevant to mention, as does the fact that Princess Donut soon gains the ability to speak, which brings her into the story as a full-fledged character – a cat-character, to be sure, but a character nonetheless. Together, they face various challenges and scary beings from across the universe, and they’re doing their best to try not to die.

The rules and structure of the game that Carl and Donut are forced to participate in involve a lot of sci-fi and fantasy components you might find in a role-playing game – hence the LitRPG genre label for the series. There are ways Carl and Princess Donut can gain abilities, allies and powers (like Donut’s ability to speak), and other achievements and prizes to be earned as they face a myriad of foes and fantastical challenges. Also, it’s all being broadcast across the universe like a TV show, so there’s a production element to everything, which adds a layer of total WTF-ery to the whole ordeal in a really fun way.

Do You Need To Be A Video Game Fan To Enjoy This Series?

In recent years, the types of video games I typically play are things like The Sims and Mario Kart. I also have a mild obsession with Balatro on my phone, and I do a bit of VR fishing while listening to a book from time to time (it’s my happy place). Maybe that’s a fair amount of casual gaming, but I don’t consider myself to be big into RPGs (unless you count The Sims, though the nature of that game doesn’t feel super relevant to DCC); however, I’ve read the first two books of this series and fully intend to keep going.

It’s just a lot of fun, thanks in large part to Carl and Princess Donut’s hilarious dynamic and the ever-shifting subterranean world they’re navigating. In short, while I’m sure that a love of or even general familiarity with RPGs would enhance your appreciation of the series, I really don’t think it’s a requirement to enjoy it. At least, it hasn’t been for me. If the description of the plot sounds fun to you, give it a try.

Should You Listen To The DCC Audiobooks?

I can’t speak to the experience of reading the physical DCC books because I’ve been listening to the audiobooks, and they’re so great that I fully intend to continue that approach. Jeff Hays’ narration is top-tier for this story, as he really brings Carl and Donut to life, so if you’re an audiobook reader, that’s my personal recommendation. But the series is also available for Kindle and in paperback and hardcover.

The Dungeon Crawler Carl Books In Order