Peacock Adapts Dungeon Crawler Carl With Jeff Hays Voice

Peacock is developing a live-action adaptation of Matt Dinniman's Dungeon Crawler Carl novels, with Jeff Hays returning to voice Princess Donut and Seth MacFarlane serving as an executive producer for the science fiction fantasy series.

The project brings the LitRPG franchise to television after the books gained a dedicated audience through their mix of role-playing game mechanics, dark comedy, horror elements, and an alien-run survival competition.

According to Yahoo, the story follows Carl, a Seattle electrician who survives an alien apocalypse and enters a massive dungeon game show with Princess Donut, his ex-girlfriend's cat who gains intelligence and speech.

Collider reported that the adaptation has Christopher Yost and Eric Heisserer as co-showrunners, while Dinniman is involved as an executive producer. The series remains in early development and has no announced release date.

LitRPG, the genre behind Dungeon Crawler Carl, combines fictional narratives with video game-style systems such as levels, skills, and progression mechanics. Inverse described the series as part of a growing genre that has moved beyond a niche audience.

Actor Felicia Day previously explained the genre while discussing how protagonists enter unfamiliar worlds and grow stronger through challenges.

"Picture a protagonist, which you could project into going through either an apocalyptic world of Earth or a fantasy world," said Felicia Day.

Jeff Hays, the audiobook narrator known for performing Princess Donut, said the live-action format requires a different approach because he will be involved on set rather than recording only in a booth.

"Well, I think changing it too much would be a mistake," said Jeff Hays, audiobook narrator.

Hays said maintaining Princess Donut's recognizable voice remains important while adapting his performance for television. He also noted that the role requires a longer period of staying in character.

"Obviously, the reason they hired me is because everyone... all the listeners were saying they would do horrible things to them if they did not, right? So presumably, they want Donut to sound the same. But I think I obviously also need to take a slightly different approach, in the sense that I need to be more present, or Donut needs to be more present within me throughout the entire thing. I have to learn how to stay in character for longer." said Jeff Hays, audiobook narrator.

Hays also plans to adjust his physical performance, including facial expressions, because live-action filming involves interaction with other actors.

"I have to embody her not just in the voice but in the face," said Jeff Hays, audiobook narrator.

The narrator said his goal is to help other performers respond to Princess Donut as a character rather than focusing on the person providing the voice.

"I'm gonna be on set with the rest of the actors, and if my face is going crazy while I'm talking to them, and I'm just letting it fly the same way I would in the booth, that's gonna color their performance, and I want them to feel like they're talking to a cat. I want that to come through in their acting as well. So that means I have to really focus and really memorize all the lines, which is something I'm absolutely not used to, and something I need to get good at before the shooting starts, so that I can be present as a cat while I'm talking to these people.

So, yeah, the performance is going to change a little bit because of that, but hopefully not too much. You know, hopefully it's just a smooth transition into the medium." said Jeff Hays, audiobook narrator.