Entertainment
Critical Role Star Eyes ‘Dungeon Crawler Carl’ TV Series Role
Critical Role has built an entertainment empire by bringing TTRPG (tabletop role-playing game) style storytelling to the masses, first via their web series and now also by adapting those campaigns into animated series on Prime Video — The Legend of Vox Machina and The Mighty Nein. Over the years, they’ve amassed a staggeringly impressive following and also continue to tell unparalleled fantasy stories via new campaigns, the latest of which kicked off in October 2025.
Not only are the members of Critical Role icons in the D&D space, but they’re also wildly talented and accomplished actors. That combination could make them ideal casting for Peacock’s upcoming Dungeon Crawler Carl series.
Collider Ladies Night recently celebrated its first-ever full live show at the Dynasty Typewriter in Los Angeles with Critical Role’s Laura Bailey, Marisha Ray and Ashley Johnson. During a round of Dicey Questions, the group rolled our fan casting question, and were challenged to cast each other in the film or show of their choice. Bailey immediately zeroed in on the highly anticipated Dungeon Crawler Carl show.
What Is ‘Dungeon Crawler Carl?’
An ambitious adaptation that could be a major hit for Peacock.
Dungeon Crawler Carl is a literary role-playing game series from author Matt Dinniman. At the start of book one, an alien invasion almost entirely annihilates life on earth. Survivors are forced to enter the World Dungeon, an 18-level space constructed using Earth’s resources that serves as a game show arena. Carl and other “crawlers,” including his ex-girlfriend’s cat Donut, must navigate each level while learning from NPCs, selecting their character race and class, collecting supplies, and fighting bosses. If they don’t make their way to the next level in the allotted time, the level they’re on collapses, killing all crawlers who remain.
The first book was a hit and paved the way for Dinniman to publish eight novels total by May 2026. In 2024, it was announced that Universal International Studios and Seth MacFarlane’s Fuzzy Door emerged victorious in a “highly competitive situation” and scooped up the rights to turn Dungeon Crawler Carl into a TV series. Just a few weeks ago, Peacock gave the project a straight-to-series order, so that means MacFarlane and co. might be casting up in the near future.
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Laura Bailey Wants to See Marisha Ray in ‘Dungeon Crawler Carl’
And has a role she wants to play herself.
Given Bailey is busy reading Dungeon Crawler Carl right now, it didn’t take long for the perfect answer to come to mind for our fan-casting Dicey Question.
“I’ve been reading a lot of Dungeon Crawler Carl, and I just saw that the rights got picked up, and it’s already green lit, and I’m freaking out about it. But listen, I’ve been reading the series, and I got to the role of Samantha, and I think Marisha would be amazing.”
Why that role in particular for Ray? Bailey explained that the idea came to mind courtesy of something Ray did on the video podcast series Weird Kids. She explained, “You did this little thing, like a spoof on Critical Role, and it was just your head on this little body, and you had a high ponytail.”
Given how specific and unusual that visual is, you might be wondering, why would that bring Dungeon Crawler Carl to mind? First, Dungeon Crawler Carl is a swing-for-the-fences type of story. After all, Carl’s ex-girlfriend’s cat, Donut, becomes sapient courtesy of an enchanted pet biscuit.
With that in mind, it might not come as much of a surprise to learn that Samantha is actually a sex doll. Bailey noted, “I’m not going to spoil anything — she’s a sex doll. But also, hilarious and psycho.” When Ray laughed and said, “You should just stop while you’re ahead,” Bailey added, “She’s great! She’s, like, one of my favorite characters. She’s just a head. Okay, I’m stopping.”
Ray jumped in and joked, “I’ll do anything. Look, Hollywood, I’ll do anything,” and then added, “This has actually been the best pitch for me to read Dungeon Crawler Carl. Now I’m like, ‘Well, that sounds pretty good.’”
Bailey’s pitch certainly had that effect on me. Immediately after our live event, I started listening to the first book in the series. While I’ve yet to reach Samantha’s part of the story, I have spent a good deal of time with Princess Donut. During the conversation about the adaptation, Bailey also added, “I want to be Donut in Dungeon Crawler Carl so bad,” and now I know, sincerely, that casting would be brilliant. Bailey’s a voice acting pro and would, no doubt, soar while taking it to the extreme Donut-style.
But the same is also true of any member of Critical Role. They’ve all got extensive acting resumes, but even if you only hear their work in The Legend of Vox Machina, which just wrapped up its fourth season on Prime Video, it’ll be abundantly clear that they’ve all got maximum range as performers and endless creative potential as artists. There’s already a good deal of hype for this Dungeon Crawler Carl series, but what would up that buzz more than adding members of Critical Role to the ensemble of a D&D-inspired book-turned-TV show?
Eager to hear even more from Bailey, Ray and Johnson? You can watch the full Collider Ladies Night Live recording in the video at the top of this article!
- Release Date
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January 27, 2022
- Network
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Prime Video
- Showrunner
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Brandon Auman
- Directors
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Young Heller, Eugene Lee, Alicia Chan
- Writers
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Eugene Son, Travis Willingham, Chris Wyatt, Kevin Burke, Suzanne Keilly, Mae Catt, Todd Casey, Ashly Burch, May Chan, Marc Bernardin
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