After Dungeon Crawler Carl, These 7 Royal Road Series Are Hollywood’s Next Targets

When Seth MacFarlane’s Fuzzy Door Productions and Universal’s Peacock acquired the rights to Matt Dinniman’s Dungeon Crawler Carl, it signaled a shift in how studios viewed web serials. With over 10 million copies sold, DCC showed there is a market for Royal Road serials and highlighted the value of prevalidated intellectual property and built-in fan bases that studios can’t ignore.

Hollywood isn’t simply looking at LirRPG and web serials; it’s scrambling to find the next one. Based on tonal range, fandom size, and worldbuilding scope, some serials aren’t just great reads; they represent high-concept IP candidates sitting directly in studios’ sightlines. Royal Road is teeming with distinct studio-ready concepts that have racked up unprecedented viewership on the platform.

Adaptation heat surrounding these titles suggests studios are reading them now. With Beware of Chicken and He Who Fights With Monsters garnering over 25M and 13M views, respectively, it shows that other web serials are ripe for adaptation. This article highlights 7 series studios are almost certainly reading right now, so fans aren’t surprised when announcements start rolling in.

7 He Who Fights With Monsters by Shirtaloon

He Who Fights With Monsters is a fan favorite and commercial juggernaut, generating over 13 million views on Royal Road and reportedly earning the author, Travis Deverell (Shirtaloon), over $200,000 a month. The story offers a compelling take on the anti-hero archetype. The protagonist, Jason Asano, is one of the most polarizing and entertaining protagonists in modern web serials.

He is a snarky, morally complex man who constantly challenges authority while wrestling with the traumatic implications of his powers. Jason wakes in a mysterious world of monsters and magic and must fend for himself against formidable, dangerous forces. The series balances witty group banter with gritty, high-stakes geopolitics, hooking readers through multi-arc storylines.

Ultimately, it offers studios a dark fantasy IP that could stand with hits like The Witcher. The series thrives on high-concept visual appeal; Jason’s soul-stitching magic contrasts with the bright, aristocratic fantasy worlds, offering visual effects artists a striking aesthetic palette to work with. With a huge, highly monetized fan base intact, an adaptation is a no-brainer for prospective studios.

6 The Primal Hunter by Zogarth

Jake Thaye, a quiet office worker lacking direction, finds himself transported into a deadly tutorial zone with his coworkers when a cosmic System inducts Earth into a vast, dangerous multiverse. Jake discovers that he has a primal ability that grants him total spatial awareness, immune system control, and an absolute instinct for survival.

Furthermore, after choosing the path of an archer and an alchemist, Jake hunts monsters and gains the attention of ancient primordial gods. This Royal Road Serial is a hit with fans, generating over 15 million views on Royal Road and becoming a top-charting presence on Amazon and Audible. It represents the absolute gold standard for the solo-progression fantasy.

It sets itself apart by focusing on mastery, atmosphere, and survival. Jake is an apex predator who finds peace and joy in the isolation of the hunt. Coupled with a complex alchemy system and interesting interactions with gods, the series is an intoxicating blend of action and satisfying power growth.

Studios looking to capitalize on the hype sparked by anime hits like Solo Leveling would be eager to turn this into the next major animated series. A studio that greenlights this project gets a clear, highly marketable hero archetype, visually striking archer-and-magic choreography, and a proven IP with a huge built-in audience of action and gaming enthusiasts.

5 The Perfect Run by Maxime J. Durand (Void Herald)

The story’s protagonist, Ryan “Quicksave” Romano, is an eccentric adventurer with an absurd power that lets him create a save point in time and redo his life whenever he dies, as if it were a video game. Arriving in New Rome, he finds the city on the verge of a gang war, and he sets out to find a lost childhood friend.

As one of Royal Road’s highest-rated completed series with over 16 million views, it stands out as a masterful blend of dark comedy, high-octane action, and profound emotional depth. The protagonist’s chaotic personality is used to mask the centuries of psychological trauma he incurred from countless time loops.

Ultimately, the series seems tailor-made for fans of the superhero genre who enjoyed shows like The Boys. There is a market for dark, gritty superhero shows that have a thrilling emotional core. Studios are always on the lookout for their next big breakout hit, and the superhero genre is tried and tested.

4 Defiance of the Fall by JF Brink

Defiance of the Fall features Zac Atwood, a man on a peaceful camping trip who is abruptly integrated into the System. A cosmic restructuring merges Earth with four alien realms, plunging the planet into instant apocalyptic chaos. Facing impossible odds, Zac arms himself with a heavy woodsman’s axe to face the demonic incursions.

This massive bestseller with over 20 million views across its combined online presence stands out as the definitive epic of the LitRPG genre. It is a seamless blend of Western System Apocalypse mechanics and traditional Eastern xianxia cultivation. What keeps readers hooked is the sheer scale of the narrative, which transitions naturally from intimate, solo survival to cosmic exploration.

Defiance of the Fall is a franchise built for longevity. It has intricate world-building, a captivating protagonist fans can’t help but root for, and a world they can get lost in. The success of Dune makes a cinematic universe of films based on the Defiance of the Fall a lucrative idea for studios.

3 Beware of Chicken by Casualfarmer

With an astounding 25M+ views on Royal, Beware of Chicken has the potential to be streaming’s next big comedy series. The premise is comedy gold, featuring the protagonist, Jin Rou, a Canadian boy who wanted to be a cultivator who defied the heavens. When he dies, he wakes up reincarnated inside the body of a beaten-down sect disciple in xianxia.

When faced with endless power grinding and arrogant young masters, Jin opts out of traditional cultivation. He moves to the remote, qi-starved Azure Hills to live a quiet life as a humble farmer. The irony is that, by tending his farm and fostering a community, he inadvertently channels the fundamental forces of the universe.

His simple farm tools become imbued with divine energy, and the qi radiating from his peaceful lifestyle causes the farm animals to gain sentience and begin their own cultivation journeys, most notably his proudly loyal rooster, Bi De (nicknamed “Big D”). This premise is a recipe for a plethora of comedic hijinks that would translate well to the screen.

Beware of Chicken is a masterful subversion of typical progression fantasy tropes. Casualfarmer uses Jin’s modern sensibilities to highlight the absurdity in the cultivation genre. The genius of the story lies in the shifting perspectives. While Jin spends his days peacefully farming, the narrative shifts to his qi-awakened animals, who defend the farm with the deadly seriousness of a Kung-fu epic.

Ultimately, coupled with a massive fanbase, Beware of Chicken offers studios a low-risk, high-reward pivot into cozy, feel-good entertainment. It has potential as either a live-action comedy-drama or an animated series. In an era when anime and donghua are on the rise, studios are likely keeping an eye on this Royal Road serial.

2 Mother of Learning by Domagoj Kurmaić

The story of Mother of Learning centers on Zorian Kazinski, an introverted, average third-year student at the Cyoria Academy of Magical Arts. He seeks to live a quiet life, but this dream is shattered when the annual summer festival ends in a sudden, catastrophic invasion by hostile forces and a primordial monster.

During the festival, he is killed and is brought back in time to the beginning of the month, just before he was about to board a train going to Cyoria. To his surprise, he is trapped in a time loop and has to reason a way out of the mystery before him.

Consequently, his story adds an alluring time-loop element to a world akin to Harry Potter, making for a compelling mystery set in a vast fantasy world. Its appeal cannot be understated, as it garnered a viewership of 27.9M on Royal Road, indicating that it has a massive fanbase waiting to be monetized by a prospective studio.

1 Super Supportive by Sleyca

This character-driven, emotionally resonant, slow-burn mystery is widely regarded as the best ongoing serial and Royal Road’s premier critical darling, with 35 million views and acclaim from both fans and critics. The story is set on an alternate Earth transformed by a historic pact with an enigmatic alien race known as the Arbos. Human beings can register to unlock powers.

The protagonist, Alden B. Graves, is a quiet teenager growing up and slowly developing his powers while figuring out his place in the universe. This series would be a hit with fans of prestige YA/sci-fi drama series. The intricate worldbuilding leaves room for compelling coming-of-age stories, with deep character work set in superhero bureaucratic systems and off-world academies.

Heavy focus is placed on the psychological weight of being a support-class hero in a society ruled by aliens. Its tight pacing and deep character work make it an ideal adaptation for networks looking for a critical hit. Its focus on atmospheric storytelling, complex interspecies politics, and character-driven suspense rather than continuous visual-effects battles makes it a must-have for studios.