Peacock’s upcoming live-action Dungeon Crawler Carl TV show is bringing Matt Dinniman’s literary sensation to screens, and the hype is palpable. The books’ combination of outrageous violence, devastating emotional twists and turns, and gloriously ridiculous videogame-inspired dungeon mechanics have always seemed perfect for a live-action series, and now it’s finally happening. Naturally, the biggest questions so far from the DCC fandom concern casting, especially when it comes to who will play Carl.
Peacock has already confirmed that audiobook narrator Jeff Hays will voice Princess Donut, but Carl remains uncast. It’s not an easy role to fill, either. Physicality is important, but any actor playing Carl in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series needs more than the right build. Balancing comedy with authenticity in Carl’s exhausted sarcasm, practical problem-solving, loyalty to his companions, and steadily intensifying anger are equally essential. Fortunately, several actors feel perfectly equipped to fill the toe rings, leather jacket, and heart-covered boxer shorts of the titular dungeon crawler.
Cody Rhodes
The WWE Superstar Could Make Carl’s Unlikely Transformation Into A Crowd Favorite Feel Completely Natural
There’s something fitting about casting a professional wrestler as a man forced to survive by entertaining an audience. Cody Rhodes understands how physical punishment, personal grudges, and carefully managed spectacle can turn a character in a combat-heavy story arc into someone a crowd gets emotionally invested in. Beyond the wrestling ring, his performance as Guile in the 2026 Street Fighter movie proves that his comic delivery and willingness to embrace an exaggerated character translates perfectly to scripted movies and TV.
One of Carl’s subtler but most important qualities is a complete lack of embarrassment: the actor wearing those boxer shorts can’t seem self-aware about how ridiculous they look. Cody Rhodes did exactly this with Guile’s absurd hair in Street Fighter. Rhodes would also bring an interesting quality to Carl’s relationship with his growing fanbase. Carl increasingly understands the value of being watched, even as he despises the system doing the watching. A WWE superstar has direct experience building audience allegiance, meaning Cody Rhodes could make this important aspect of Carl’s journey feel totally believable.
Peter Claffey
Claffey’s Combination Of Imposing Size And Disarming Sincerity Captures Carl’s Essential Appeal
A huge man accompanied by a smaller, sharper-tongued companion is already familiar territory for Peter Claffey. As Ser Duncan the Tall in the Game of Thrones spinoff A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, Claffey gives an intimidating figure a mix of being approachable and comedically awkward that makes him worth supporting. The gap between how formidable Dunk looks and how uncertain he feels would be perfect for Carl in the Dungeon Crawler Carl TV show, especially during the early dungeon floors before he and Donut have a grasp of the gaming mechanics that now define their world.
Peter Claffey manages to make kindness compelling, and this would also be essential. Carl’s willingness to help other crawlers matters because it repeatedly creates complications, forcing him to risk his own safety and plans to advance through the dungeon. He could convincingly sell the frustrated pause before Carl accepts that he can’t leave someone behind without the moment coming across as sanctimonious. What’s more, his ability to conjure humble sincerity would make him an excellent counterpart to Donut. His ability to remain emotionally present while being verbally outmaneuvered could bring everything endearing about their partnership in the books to the screen for Peacocks’ DCC series.
Alan Ritchson
Ritchson Has The Action Credentials And Comic Instincts To Handle DCC At Its Most Extreme
Alan Ritchson is a clearly suitable choice to play Carl in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series, and not just because of his size. His work as Jack Reacher in Reacher demonstrates how effectively he can carry action scenes filled with spontaneous, explosive violence that also require a character to think on their feet. Carl needs an actor who can deliver that combination. Ritchson can make a character look as though he is assessing a room even while everyone else assumes he is simply preparing to punch something.
However, Carl needs a comedic talent as well as an actor experienced with action. Fortunately, Alan Ritchson also fits the bill here. His performance as Thad Castle in Blue Mountain State, for example, shows that Ritchson is comfortable with absurdity, indignity, and enormous reactions, all useful qualities in a dungeon where humiliating achievements can interrupt horrific events. Most crucially, though, Carl’s confidence must feel earned through the weight of surviving terrible experiences. Combining Ritchson’s comic vulnerability with his action presence could achieve exactly that.
Jensen Ackles
Ackles Could Give Carl’s Sarcasm The Emotional Weight That Makes His Defiance Matter
Carl’s voice is one of the most important casting considerations for Peacock’s Dungeon Crawler Carl TV show, and few actors feel primed to tick this box like Jensen Ackles. His gravelly delivery could carry Carl’s irritation and skepticism about his and Donut’s new reality observations with ease. His years as Dean Winchester in Supernatural demonstrate how effectively Ackles can connect sarcasm with exhaustion, grief, and fierce protectiveness. He’s an actor who knows how to make hilarious dialogue keep its comedic value without it seeming like the character is deliberately trying to crack a joke, which is what Carl needs.
Dean Winchester isn’t the only Jensen Ackles role that makes him a great candidate for the Dungeon Crawler Carl TV show cast, either. Soldier Boy in The Boys gave Ackles opportunities to combine comic timing with genuine menace. This would be essential for Carl, who regularly pivots from mild irritation to dangerous rage once his patience finally disappears. While he may be a little older than Carl is in the books (Carl is around 27 whereas Ackles, at time of writing, is 48), he could make DCC’s central dungeon crawler convincingly feel like someone whose habit of swallowing pain has finally reached its limit.
Glen Powell
Powell Could Make Carl’s Growing Command Of The Dungeon’s Audience As Compelling As His Survival
Charisma is just as important for surviving as violence is in Dungeon Crawler Carl, which makes Glen Powell an especially interesting choice to play Carl in the cast of the Peacock show. Carl does not enter the dungeon with any experience as an entertainer, but he gradually learns that leaning into his newfound intergalactic celebrity can keep him alive. Powell could make that development convincing without presenting Carl as someone who’d normally seek fame. His performance as Gary Johnson in Hit Man is the perfect example here, as it demonstrates an ability to move between unassuming awkwardness and deliberately constructed confidence. That range would be a solid foundation for Carl’s increasingly public rebellion as the DCC TV series unfolds.
Glen Powell’s suitability also extends beyond Carl’s talk show appearances. He’s got a handle on the action genre too, as proved by movies like The Running Man and Top Gun: Maverick. Any DCC Carl actor also needs to capture the character’s flashes of satisfaction when an outrageous plan works, which is something Powell has already done when playing storm chaser Tyler Owen in Twisters. Finally, as far as comedy goes, Powell has considerable experience in the genre with projects like How To Make A Killing and Chad Powers. All in all, he has a range of experience that, when brought together, make him stand out as a well-rounded option to lead the Dungeon Crawler Carl TV show cast.
Jack O’Connell
O’Connell Could Make Carl’s Stubborn Humanity And Increasingly Dangerous Anger Equally Convincing
Surviving the world dungeon takes more than strength. It takes amazing psychological endurance too, and Jack O’Connell excels at playing men who keep going when they have every reason to collapse. In ’71, his performance as Gary Hook makes desperation the driving force of survival and the spark that powers every moment of resourceful ingenuity. He could bring that same urgency to Carl’s struggles, especially on the lower floors when every encounter requires quick decision-making in the face of what feels like guaranteed death. O’Connell would make those victories look costly, ensuring Carl remains a vulnerable person even as his abilities become more spectacular.
Roles like James Cook in Skins and Jimmy in 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple also lend themselves to a potential Dungeon Crawler Carl TV show casting. O’Connell can make it clear that reckless confrontational behavior is a front for deep hurt and anger beneath the bravado. These are qualities that would suit Carl’s increasingly personal war against the dungeon’s operators as the DCC series reached later seasons. He may not have the physicality many readers associate with Carl, but he definitely has the ability to bring forth the emotional depth that makes him such an endearing character.
Bill Skarsgård
Skarsgård’s Work In Boy Kills World Makes Him A Strong Fit For Violent, Absurd Nightmare Carl’s World Becomes
Casting horror icon Bill Skarsgård as Carl in Dungeon Crawler Carl may seem like a left field choice at first, but that’s only until one has seen Boy Kills World. As the titular Boy in the 2023 action thriller, Skarsgård throws himself into a world of extravagant videogame-inspired brutality, grotesque entertainment, and deliberately ridiculous action. His work on the movie is all the proof needed that he’d be perfect for Carl’s increasingly punishing battles. However, it’s not just his action experience that makes him a surprising yet suitable option.
A solid character actor, Bill Skarsgård has proved in various roles that he can convincingly bring forward a character’s inner suffering while participating in something spectacularly absurd. That balance is essential to an adaptation where the audience should laugh without losing sight of what survival costs. He could take the physical performance of Boy Kills World and bring it to what makes the likes of his work in IT and Nosferatu iconic. Yes, Pennywise and Count Orlok are wildly different characters to Carl, but they still prove Skarsgård understands how to completely transform his vocal delivery and physical presence for a character, which any good choice for an actor playing Carl needs to.
Tom Hopper
Hopper Could Balance Carl’s Formidable Physical Presence With The Warmth His Relationship With Donut Demands
Being the biggest person in the room doesn’t mean being the most confident and self-assured, and Tom Hopper has considerable experience exploring that gap. His performance as Luther Hargreeves in The Umbrella Academy required him to play a physical powerhouse riddled with insecurity, wounded pride, and a fear that he’s never going to be the savior the world clearly needs. That mixture is exactly what would make Hopper’s performance as Carl tonally ideal. The world dungeon constantly forces Carl into humiliating situations and inflicts devastating losses that cut any celebration of victory short, and Hopper could make those indignities funny while preserving the sense that a real person is enduring them.
Tom Hopper in the DCC TV series would mean the show had a lead who could retain the openness that makes Carl approachable while also capturing the suspicion and practical ruthlessness that surviving the dungeon demands. Even more crucially, though, Umbrella Academy’s Luther is also a character defined by his compassion for his found family. This is also true of Carl. Carl’s affection for Donut should never feel like a subplot. It influences his decisions, establishes his priorities, and keeps the escalating spectacle emotionally grounded. Hopper could make caring for her seem completely natural, even during their most ridiculous arguments.
Austin Butler
Butler’s Battered Everyman Performance In Caught Stealing Feels Like A Blueprint For Carl
Austin Butler has already played a man whose decision to look after a cat pulls him into a violent nightmare, because that’s pretty much the premise of the 2025 movie Caught Stealing. However, his performance as Hank Thompson provides a much stronger reason to consider him for Carl beyond both characters regularly risking their lives for a cat. In the film, Butler made an increasingly battered protagonist convincingly overcome incredibly dangerous odds without relying on effortless competence. Hank is an ordinary guy caught up in events that keep becoming more and more violent, which is the core foundation of Carl as a character.
Hank in Caught Stealing isn’t the only role that singles out Austin Butler for the Dungeon Crawler Carl TV show, either. As Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen in Dune: Part Two, he demonstrates that he can be physically menacing, and as the lead in Elvis he captures the struggles of balancing celebrity with one’s moral compass. All in all, Butler has a slew of appropriate experience that would lend itself well to playing Carl in the Dungeon Crawler Carl TV show, and when it comes to proven range, he’s among the best choices available.
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Peacock
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Chris Yost
