Filming on Peacock’s live-action TV series “Dungeon Crawler Carl” will begin next year, writer Matt Dinniman and Universal TV executives revealed Saturday.
“We’re starting to see drafts and outlines, and we got the pitch for the entire series, which is really exciting, but it’s still evolving,” Kelsey Balance, Universal Global Television’s head of scripted series, said during a New York Comic Con panel hosted by Dinniman. “While that’s happening, we’re building the ship or the plane as we’re flying. That’s what’s happening and that determines everything. At the same time, we’re in soft preparation. So we’re hiring mission managers. We’re finding great executive producers, production designers, directors, casting – all of that is happening right now, which is fun.”
Based on Matt Dinniman’s bestselling LitRPG novel series, the “Dungeon Crawler Carl” TV show will be led by Chris Yost and Eric Heisserer, who will serve as executive producers alongside Seth MacFarlane, Erica Huggins and Rachel Hargreaves-Heald for MacFarlane’s banner, Fuzzy Door. Dinniman serves as co-executive producer. The adaptation comes from Universal Global Television.
Here’s the official logline for the TV series “Dungeon Crawler Carl”: “An alien invasion has wiped out most of humanity, and all survivors are forced to fight for their lives in a sadistic intergalactic game show. Sounds bad, right? Now try doing it barefoot and with a stuck-up, egocentric, tiara-wearing talking cat as your partner. Welcome to Dungeon Crawler World: Earth, where the apocalypse will be televised… and Coast Guard veteran Carl finds himself stuck with his ex-girlfriend’s award-winning show cat, Princess Donut Queen Anne Chonk, as they try to survive the end of the world, battling monsters, aliens, crazy AI, and even other survivors… all for the sake of television. Survival is not optional.
Balance noted that the “DCC” TV series team was “hoping to announce something today” during Saturday’s NYCC panel, but the project is “right in the middle of the storm chaos and all of that hasn’t officially landed yet.” However, Libra says additional details will be coming “very soon, in the coming weeks.”
“We’re going to lock down all these key things, which will be fun to share with you,” the Universal TV exec said. “Then we’ll start real preparation in the new year and filming next year. So the plan is to have all the scripts written before production starts, which is great. We’re on track for that and then we’ll start filming, which is exciting. We’re constantly thinking about when and how we can share things.”
For now, Dinniman and executives say they can’t give any news on when the series will premiere, although the author tried to get an answer from them while moderating the panel. Alongside Balance, panelists included Jordan Moblo, EVP, Creative Acquisitions & IP Management, Universal Studio Group, and Vivian Cannon, EVP, Drama Development, Universal Television. The panel was an event for NYCC press and professional badge holders and offered a behind-the-scenes look at how Universal Studios Group identifies promising intellectual property, partners with creators, and manages adaptations throughout the development process.
Dinniman also said that, aside from the reveal that the narrator of the “Carl” audiobook, Jeff Hays, will voice Princess Donut for the TV series, no other casting decisions have been made, including who will play Carl.
“We were just talking about it behind the scenes. Carl wasn’t cast. And we don’t have a definite answer on that,” Dinniman said when asked by an audience member which actor he would like to cast for the role. “I want Carl to be played by someone who embodies the role and someone who can both be goofy and give off a really, really scary vibe. When Carl is upset, he’s a very scary person.”
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