Seth MacFarlane is adapting Dungeon Crawler Carl, and if you don't know what that means, you're about to get a crash course in LitRPG.
LitRPG—short for "literary role-playing game"—is a subgenre where stories unfold like video games, complete with leveling systems, stat sheets, and inventory management. Think Ready Player One but actually structured like game mechanics, not just referencing them. Matt Dinniman's Dungeon Crawler Carl series has become a cult phenomenon in this space, racking up millions of downloads on Audible and spawning a devoted fanbase.
The premise: Earth becomes a dungeon-crawler game run by intergalactic reality TV producers. Carl and his ex-girlfriend's cat must fight their way through deadly floors filled with monsters, traps, and sadistic game show elements. It's The Hunger Games meets Dark Souls meets The Truman Show, with a healthy dose of gallows humor.
MacFarlane and writer Chris Yost (who wrote on Thor: Ragnarok) are developing the series for Peacock. This is a smart pairing—MacFarlane knows how to balance absurdist comedy with genuine stakes (see: The Orville), and Yost understands how to adapt genre material for mainstream audiences without condescending to it.
The challenge will be translating LitRPG's hyper-specific mechanics to TV without alienating general audiences. The books work because readers bought into the conceit. TV viewers won't have that same patience if the show stops every five minutes to explain skill trees and cooldown timers.
But the core concept—Earth as a lethal game show run by bored aliens—has legs. It's social satire disguised as genre trash, which is exactly MacFarlane's sweet spot. If he can channel the anarchic energy of early Family Guy and the earnest world-building of , this could be 's first genuine genre hit.
