If 2025 was KPop Demon Hunters‘ time to shine, then 2026 is the year of Dungeon Crawler Carl, as the franchise has taken over Comic-Con, Gen Con, and is poised to take over the world of television as well. The new live-action series just revealed even more great news, as the project has now added an Academy Award nominee to the mix, and they are set to have a major impact.
A new report from Variety has revealed that Eric Heisserer is joining Dungeon Crawler Carl as a co-showrunner alongside Chris Yost. Heisserer is known for his work on projects like Shadow and Bone, Bird Box, and Arrival, and now he’ll be working alongside Yost and executive producers Seth MacFarlane, Erica Huggins, Rachel Hargreaves-Heald, and series creator Matt Dinniman to bring the hit series to life on the screen.
Heisserer and Yost are quite the dynamic team to bring this franchise to life on the screen, and thanks to MacFarlane’s Fuzzy Door banner and the involvement of the author and creator, there also seems to be a lot of behind-the-scenes power behind the show as well.
As for the cast of the series, only one person has been locked in, though it’s one of the biggest characters in the show. It was recently confirmed that Jeff Hays will be doing the voice of the amazing Princess Donut, and that couldn’t be a better choice. Hays has been the narrator and a producer on the series already, so it feels seamless for Hays to be part of the show as well.
Hopefully more castings will follow soon, especially when it comes to characters like Carl, Prepotente, and Samantha. There’s also the question of how much of the books will be covered in each season, which would likely also have an effect on which characters are utilized during any given season.
The show could easily just feature one of the books each season, and since there are 10 books, you’d potentially have a 10-season series built right in. Other shows like to mix and match stories and characters though, so we’ll just have to wait and see which approach they take.
Regardless of that approach, Dungeon Crawler Carl seems primed to be the runaway hit of 2027, and it’s already been a huge hit over the course of 2026 thanks to the comic series and tabletop games. As for Peacock, it could easily end up being the streamer’s biggest hit of the year, but if the series really sticks the landing, it could also be Peacock’s biggest series of all time.
