Dungeon Crawler Carl to Start Filming Next Year
Peacock's live-action Dungeon Crawler Carl will begin shooting next year.
Author Matt Dinniman and executives from Universal Television shared the timetable on Saturday, 10 October, during a New York Comic Con panel hosted by Dinniman, as reported by Variety. The series adapts Dinniman's LitRPG novel series, fiction built around video-game rules such as levels, quests and stats.
Peacock describes the books as a bestselling sci-fi fantasy series, according to Peacock. The television version is officially in development at the streamer, a stage that means the show has been ordered to develop scripts and plans but has not yet been formally greenlit to series. The project was first reported in development at Peacock in April, with Seth MacFarlane attached, as reported by Variety. Saturday's panel gave it a production timetable for the first time.
The project is now in soft prep, the early planning phase before full production begins. Kelsey Balance, chief of scripted series at Universal Global Television, told the panel the team is hiring HODs, meaning heads of department, as well as line producers, production designers and directors. Casting work is also under way. Hiring those roles now points to early work on how the production will be organised, budgeted and designed.
The plan is to move into real prep in the new year, with all scripts written before production starts. That scripts-first timetable means the story is locked before sets are built and cameras roll. No premiere date has been announced.
Chris Yost and Eric Heisserer will lead the series as executive producers, the senior roles that steer a show creatively and financially. Seth MacFarlane, Erica Huggins and Rachel Hargreaves-Heald will executive produce for Fuzzy Door. Dinniman serves as co-executive producer, a rank just below executive producer. The adaptation hails from Universal Global Television.
One casting decision is public. Jeff Hays, the narrator of the Dungeon Crawler Carl audiobooks, will voice Princess Donut in the series. No other roles have been cast, including who will play Carl.
Balance said further details will follow within the next few weeks. For viewers, that leaves dates, directors and Carl himself still to be revealed.
The dungeon is not open yet. But the crew building it is being hired.
