Marvel and DC should watch out because “Dungeon Crawler Carls” may be the next huge fandom.
Author Matt Dinniman’s “Dungeon Crawler Carl” series began as a self-published novel in 2019. The series follows Carl, a Coast Guard veteran who is thrown into a deadly, video game-inspired dungeon when Earth is taken over by aliens. The book series has expanded into eight novels, and Peacock has ordered a live-action adaptation that has readers excited to see the world come to life. Dinniman hosted two panels at San Diego Comic-Con and stopped by the Variety Studio, presented by Google TV, to ensure fans that he’s listening to their hopes for the show as it gets underway.
“There’s a lot of hesitation around the show, which is obvious,” Dinniman said. “Anytime there’s an adaptation of anything, fans of it are hesitant to embrace it right away because they’ve been disappointed so many times before. It was important for us to show everyone that we’ve been listening to their comments.”
Fans got their first wish granted when Dinniman announced that Jeff Hays, the narrator of the popular “Dungeon Crawler Carl” audiobooks, would be voicing Princess Donut, a talking cat who’s one of the main characters in the series. In the books, aliens turn Earth into a worldwide game show, with levels filled with dangerous monsters and traps. Carl is joined by other players (known as crawlers) and his cat Princess Donut, who gains the ability to talk once they enter the dungeon. They must use spells, traps and everything at their disposal to fight their way through each floor and get one step closer to freeing themselves from the dungeon.
