5 Best Shows Like Dungeon Crawler Carl

Published Aug 16, 2026, 12:45 PM EDT Memory Ngulube joined Screen Rant in April 2024 as part of the Movies and TV team. Since then, she has written for the Perennials and Streaming team, covering a wide range of topics from new releases to old movies and TV shows. Memory is currently a Classic TV writer. Before joining Screen Rant, Memory was a freelance copywriter who specialized in email marketing and social media management. While she enjoyed her job, her true passion was always movies and TV. When she isn’t writing for Screen Rant, Memory can be found reading, baking (which is one of her passions), or watching her favorite K-drama. Dungeon Crawler Carl has evolved from a relatively niche LitRPG novel to one of the biggest breakout success stories in modern fantasy and science fiction publishing. Written by Matt Dinniman, the series takes the familiar dungeon-crawling and game-progression formula and blends it with a dark science-fiction apocalyptic survival story. At the center of the mayhem are Carl and his beloved talking cat, Princess Donut, forced to fight their way through increasingly deadly levels as the entire ordeal is broadcast as entertainment across the galaxy. That strange premise — part The Hunger Games, part video game, part dungeon fantasy — has proved to be surprisingly addictive. The novel’s popularity has led to a major television adaptation, with Peacock officially greenlighting a live-action version of Dungeon Crawler Carl. A few details about the DCC TV show have been released. The project is being produced by Dinniman and Seth MacFarlane's Fuzzy Door and Universal Television, with Chris Yost serving as the show's lead writer. Audiobook narrator Jeff Hays will return as the voice of Princess Donut. Dungeon Crawler Carl is a unique, genre-bending saga, so finding TV shows with a similar premise or atmosphere is difficult. Fortunately, there are several animated and dark live-action fantasy series that offer pieces of what makes Dungeon Crawler Carl so enjoyable. Some capture its dungeon-crawling adventure, while others recreate its dark humor and video-game-like progression. None are an exact replacement because Dungeon Crawler Carl is far too unusual for that, but the right shows can scratch many of the same itches. Delicious In Dungeon (2024-Present) Available on Netflix Delicious in Dungeon and Dungeon Crawler Carl tell wildly different fantasy stories, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t intersect in one way or another. Delicious in Dungeon follows a group of fantasy adventurers who are exploring a dangerous dungeon while cooking and eating the monsters they kill. For anyone who loves the exploration and complicated worldbuilding of Dungeon Crawler Carl, Delicious in Dungeon is arguably one of the best fantasy shows to watch next. Dungeon Crawler Carl can go from horrifying violence to an absurd joke involving Princess Donut without missing a beat. Delicious in Dungeon has a similarly strange ability to turn potentially terrifying fantasy scenarios into comedy. The idea of adventurers calmly discussing how best to prepare a monster they just fought sounds ridiculous, but that is exactly why it works. As vital as humor is to both DCC and Delicious in Dungeon, neither story is simply a comedy. The humor exists alongside genuine danger and adventure. Available on Peacock Twisted Metal is a post-apocalyptic action-comedy based on the PlayStation video-game franchise of the same name. Set in a future where civilization has collapsed and survivors live in isolated communities, the series follows John Doe (Anthony Mackie), a fast-talking milkman who makes dangerous deliveries across the wasteland. When he is offered the chance to earn a place inside a heavily fortified community, John accepts a seemingly simple assignment to travel across the ruined United States and retrieve a mysterious package. The catch, however, is that getting across the wasteland is dangerous. John has to contend with armed raiders, violent gangs, and dangerous survivors. The biggest reason Twisted Metal is suitable for Dungeon Crawler Carl fans is because of its tonal similarity and dangerous setting. Dungeon Crawler Carl begins with the sudden destruction of Earth, turning humanity's desperate struggle for survival into an alien-run entertainment spectacle. Twisted Metal similarly takes the post-apocalyptic genre and injects it with humor, outrageous characters, and violence. Neither protagonist begins as an unstoppable hero. Carl doesn't choose to become a dungeon crawler. He is forced into an alien death game and must learn its rules to keep Donut safe and stay alive. John Doe has to learn how the post-apocalyptic world operates while traveling through territory controlled by dangerous people. Seeing as Twisted Metal, unlike some of the other entries on this list, is a live-action series, it is perhaps the best show to watch in anticipation of the Dungeon Crawler Carl series. Future Man (2017-2021) Available to buy via Prime Video and Apple TV If the appeal of Dungeon Crawler Carl comes from its absurd humor and ability to turn a bonkers premise into surprisingly compelling science fiction, then Future Man is the best series to add to your watchlist next. The Hulu comedy, created by Howard Overman, Kyle Hunter, and Ariel Shaffir, follows Josh Futturman (Josh Hutcherson), a video-game-playing janitor who two time travelers recruit after they become convinced that his gaming skills make him uniquely qualified to save humanity. Future Man is absurd, and that’s what makes it such a great series. Of course, the Hulu TV show is more science fiction than fantasy, but it shares more DNA with Dungeon Crawler Carl than its premise might initially suggest. The biggest similarity is how both stories use absurdity as a storytelling device. Future Man does something similar with its time-travel concept. Rather than treating its premise with complete seriousness, the science fiction show always finds new ways to make its world stranger and more ridiculous. Characters travel through different versions of history, encounter bizarre alternate realities, and repeatedly discover that changing the past has consequences they could never have anticipated. Sword Art Online (2012-2020) Available on Crunchyroll and Hulu Based on the light novels by Reki Kawahara, Sword Art Online begins in 2022, when thousands of players log in to a revolutionary virtual-reality MMORPG called Sword Art Online, only to discover that they cannot log out. Even worse, the game's creator reveals that if a player dies within the game's reality, they die in the real world as well. To escape, the players must clear all 100 floors of the enormous floating fortress Aincrad and defeat the bosses waiting at the top of each floor. The most obvious connection between Sword Art Online and Dungeon Crawler Carl is that they are both RPGs. Sword Art Online’s characters inhabit an MMORPG, complete with levels, weapons, armor, quests, and bosses. However, there is a difference between SAO and DCC. Sword Art Online presents its premise primarily as a virtual-reality death game, while Dungeon Crawler Carl turns the concept into an intergalactic spectacle. The underlying appeal is similar: the characters have to figure out the system before the system kills them. The Legend Of Vox Machina (2022-Present) Available on Prime Video Image via Amazon For fans of Dungeon Crawler Carl, recommending The Legend of Vox Machina makes the most sense. Both stories have found the balance between brutality and humor. As a D&D story, Vox Machina doesn't have the LitRPG mechanics or game-system structure of Dungeon Crawler Carl, but it still has much of the same chaotic energy that makes Dinniman's series so addictive. Perhaps what makes The Legend of Vox Machina an appealing show for fans of Dungeon Crawler Carl is how they both focus on adventure. In the Prime Video fantasy series, the heroes fight to defeat the Chroma Conclave while DCC sees Princess Donut and Carl survive brutal, rigged games set up by the Borant Corporation. The Legend of Vox Machina has proved that high fantasy works perfectly in animation form, so it's surprising that the TV adaptation of Dungeon Crawler Carl will be in live-action instead. Still, despite the differences in medium, Vox Machina is worth checking out. Dungeon Crawler Carl Publisher(s) Penguin Random House Publication Date September 21, 2020 Number of Pages 444 ISBN# 979-8688591507 Author(s) Matt Dinniman