SDCC 2026: ‘Dungeon Crawler Carl’ TV Adaptation Announces First Casting – Audiobook Narrator Jeff Hays As [SPOILER]
by Tony Thornley
Revealed late yesterday afternoon at San Diego Comic-Con, Peacock TV’s Dungeon Crawler Carl adaptation has announced its first casting, and to longtime fans of the book series, it’s no surprise.
Probably more than any other series in publishing right now, the audiobook versions of Matt Dinniman’s science-fiction/fantasy series have been key to the popularity of the series. Just as much as credit as goes to Dinnaman’s story and prose would go to Jeff Hays, the series’ narrator and executive producer under Hays’ Soundbooth Theater. Hays has displayed an absolutely impressive range as a voice actor in the series, narrating the series solo, while many fans have been stunned to learn that he didn’t have a co-narrator, particularly for female characters.
Ever since the Peacock adaptation was ordered to series, executive produced by Seth MacFarlane under his Fuzzy Door production company, fans have speculated that Hays would be cast as one of many characters, such as game guide Mordecai, the omnipresent (and antagonistic) System AI, and the series co-lead, the sentient tortoise-shell Persian show cat, Princess Donut (the Queen Anne Chonk).
That speculation paid off at yesterday’s Spotlight On Matt Dinniman panel at SDCC, as Dinniman and Hays revealed that Hays had been cast as Princess Donut herself, in the first official news about the adaptation since the production was greenlit. The series will be showran by Chris Yost, a longtime Hollywood fixture and key writer with Marvel Studios, and executive produced by MacFarlane, Erica Huggins, and Rachel Hargreaves-Heald, with Dinniman as co-executive producer.
If you’ve listened to the Dungeon Crawler Carl audiobooks, it goes without saying that Hays is the perfect choice for Donut, with his sharp delivery of the cat’s snark and sarcasm, while embodying her growth alongside that. Hays’ casting also shows that progress is happening on the series, perhaps meaning casting for Carl, Mordecai, and book one players like Chris, Brandon, Elle and Imani isn’t far behind.
Watch for more news about Peacock’s Dungeon Crawler Carl soon!
