In a move that cheekily mirrors the events of the book, Matt Dinniman’s Dungeon Crawler Carl will be heading to a television screen near you.
Today, Deadline broke the news that Universal International Studios and Seth MacFarlane’s production company, Fuzzy Door, are looking to adapt the novel for television, with Chris Yost (Thor: Ragnarok, The Mandalorian) penning the scripts.
In Dungeon Crawler Carl, the titular Carl finds himself living in an apocalyptic world struggling to survive along with his ex-girlfriend’s cat, Princess Donut. The blurb for the book says it all:
You know what’s worse than breaking up with your girlfriend? Being stuck with her prize-winning show cat. And you know what’s worse than that? An alien invasion, the destruction of all man-made structures on Earth, and the systematic exploitation of all the survivors for a sadistic, intergalactic game show. That’s what.
Join Coast Guard vet Carl and his ex-girlfriend’s cat, Princess Donut, as they try to survive the end of the world—or just get to the next level—in a video game-like, trap-filled fantasy dungeon. A dungeon that’s actually the set of a reality television show with countless viewers across the galaxy. Exploding goblins. Magical potions. Deadly, drug-dealing llamas. This ain’t your ordinary game show.
Welcome, Crawler. Welcome to the Dungeon. Survival is optional. Keeping the viewers entertained is not.
“I’m excited to share this crazy story with a much wider audience,” Dinniman said in a statement to Deadline. “I think it’s found a great home at Fuzzy Door and Universal International Studios.”
“Matt captures genre bending at its best with his laugh-out-loud and emotionally gut-wrenching characters,” said Fuzzy Door President Erica Huggins in the same statement. “That, coupled with the semi-grounded but unique sci-fi world Dungeon Crawler Carl takes place in, makes for an ideal Fuzzy Door project.”
Dinniman first self-published Dungeon Crawler Carl as an e-book and audiobook, which has since sold over a million copies. He has published five more books in the series, and a hardcover version of the first one is coming out on August 27, 2024.
No news yet on when the adaptation will go into production, much less make its way to a TV near you.
