Cover by Justin Jarome
Peacock’s Dungeon Crawler Carl adaptation has found the two people who will guide the series through production.
Author Matt Dinniman announced on Instagram that Chris Yost and Eric Heisserer will serve as co-showrunners on the live-action show. “Two new bosses have entered the dungeon,” Dinniman wrote while welcoming the pair to the project.
Yost has been involved with the adaptation for some time. He was attached to write the series when Universal International Studios and Seth MacFarlane’s Fuzzy Door first began developing it in 2024. He remained the lead writer when the project moved to Peacock and received a straight-to-series order earlier this year.
The show has also attracted extraordinary interest behind the scenes. As we previously reported, around 750 Hollywood writers have reportedly competed for a limited number of places in its writers’ room.
The announcement gives Yost a clearer leadership role and adds Heisserer, an Oscar-nominated screenwriter with substantial experience adapting science fiction and fantasy.
Chris Yost Has Been With Dungeon Crawler Carl From the Beginning
Chris Yost was already one of the central creative figures behind the adaptation. Deadline reported in 2024 that he would adapt Dinniman’s books for television, well before Peacock became the show’s home.
His credits cover several corners of genre entertainment. Yost worked on Thor: Ragnarok and has written for The Mandalorian and Cowboy Bebop. His animation and comic-book work includes Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, X-Men, The Avengers and The Amazing Spider-Man.
Yost also comes to the job with an unusually deep familiarity with the source material. In an earlier interview with Entertainment Weekly, Dinniman revealed that Yost had been a fan and Patreon supporter before joining the television adaptation. While that may not guarantee a faithful or successful series, it certainly is a good sign that the person helping run it understands why readers are invested.
Eric Heisserer Brings Major Adaptation Experience
Eric Heisserer is the new name in the announcement, and his résumé makes the addition especially notable.
Heisserer wrote the screenplay for Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival, earning an Academy Award nomination and winning both a Writers Guild Award and a Critics’ Choice Award for the adaptation. He also created and ran Netflix’s Shadow and Bone series and wrote the screenplay for Bird Box.
Why the Co-Showrunner News Matters
A showrunner is responsible for far more than writing individual episodes. Yost and Heisserer will help determine the series’ overall tone, oversee the writers’ room and guide major creative decisions as the adaptation moves forward.
Yost brings years of genre experience and a long connection to this particular project. Heisserer brings a proven ability to reshape ambitious books for film and television. Together, they give the Peacock series a creative team that looks well suited to the material’s tonal balancing act.
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