The Perfect Actor To Play Dungeon Crawler Carl Is The MCU's Forgotten Star
El is a Junior TV Features Editor for ScreenRant, with previous experience as The Mary Sue's UK and Weekend Editor. She holds a Bachelor's in International Media and Entertainment Management, as well as an MA and Ph.D. in Creative Writing. There is little she loves more than discussing her favorite TV shows with fellow fans. One day, she hopes to publish an original fantasy novel.
The perfect actor to play Carl in Peacock's ambitious Dungeon Crawler Carl adaptation is a forgotten Marvel Cinematic Universe star. The live-action Dungeon Crawler Carl adaptation is slowly coming together. Author Matt Dinniman will executive produce the series alongside Seth MacFarlane and Star Wars and Marvel veteran Christopher Yost, who will also serve as showrunner and writer. Earlier this year, Peacock confirmed that audiobook narrator Jeff Hays will voice missile-wielding show cat Princess Donut, welcome news for fans who've fallen in love with Hays' interpretation and Donut's endearingly pretentious, faux-British voice.
Additional news is still sparse. Donut's other half, Coast Guard veteran and Dungeon destroyer Carl, hasn't been announced for the show yet. Carl won't be an easy character to cast. During Universal's TV Adaptations panel at New York Comic-Con, Dinniman said that he wants "Carl to be played by someone who embodies the role and can be both goofy and give off that really scary vibe. When Carl’s upset, he’s a very scary person. I don’t have a specific person yet, but we’ll see."
The adaptation needs someone roughly the right age (Carl is in his late 20s), with the right physique, and who can carry not only Donut but the literal weight of the world on his shoulders. Carl is resourceful, righteously angry, determined, fearful, loving, and smart. The chosen actor will need to embody all those traits and more, effortlessly moving between genres and complex storylines. While a few actors come to mind, including A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms star Peter Claffey and Star Wars Jedi lead Cameron Monaghan, one name stands out: Will Poulter.
Will Poulter Is Peacock's Perfect Dungeon Crawler Carl
Will Poulter would be great as Carl. Since his debut as a child actor in 2007's Son of Rambow, 33-year-old Poulter has built a varied resume, starring in everything from high fantasy epics to straight-up comedies, action-packed dystopian trilogies, dark sci-fi anthologies, horror movies, murder mysteries, superhero flicks, war dramas, and intense, character-driven dramedies like The Bear.
All those genres appear in Dungeon Crawler Carl; Dinniman's LitRPG books are hilarious, terrifying, tragic, heartwarming, and wacky in equal measure. Poulter could easily balance Carl's comedic side with his love for Donut, his desire to save others, his increasing, burning need to tear the Dungeon apart, and his brief yet impactful flashes of grief.
Poulter's Adam Warlock was a highlight of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, especially when he learned to think for himself after befriending a fuzzy alien creature, losing his "mother," and choosing to join the Guardians rather than fight against them. Poulter's performance in Guardians of the Galaxy's finale is the perfect audition for Dungeon Crawler Carl. He switches between violent fury and silly, deadpan one-liners with practiced ease. He can handle big-budget CGI spectacles, fight scenes, and talking animal characters. Adam Warlock's MCU future is uncertain, but maybe Poulter is meant to lead Dungeon Crawler Carl instead.
Casting Dungeon Crawler Carl Is The Most Important Decision Peacock's Show Will Make
Now that the show has chosen Jeff Hays to voice Princess Donut, casting Carl is the single most important decision Peacock's Dungeon Crawler Carl adaptation will make. Donut and Carl are a team. They are the emotional anchor of the story, the glue that holds the mad, intergalactic, fantastical, violent world of Dungeon Crawler Carl together. The chosen actor will not just need to embody Carl; he'll need to convince the audience of his love for and bond with Donut. Their voices and personalities should complement each other. That's not easy when one half of a dynamic duo isn't real.
Carl could be the lead role of a lifetime. It would be a major commitment (eight Dungeon Crawler Carl books are out now, with two more installments on the way), but the show has incredible potential. Whether Will Poulter or someone else is cast, they can grow into the part as Carl and Donut grind through the levels of "Dungeon Crawler World: Earth." The show doesn't work if Carl feels insincere or like a caricature. That's the toughest challenge. If Peacock gets that right, the Dungeon Crawler Carl adaptation could be something genuinely special.
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.