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Matt Dinniman’s science fantasy series Dungeon Crawler Carl opens with an alien corporation flattening every building on Earth to strip-mine the planet, then forcing the survivors into an 18-level dungeon broadcast across the galaxy as a reality game show run by the Syndicate. Carl, a U.S. Coast Guard veteran, enters in his boxer shorts and a leather jacket with no shoes or pants, carrying his ex-girlfriend’s prize-winning tortoiseshell Persian cat, Princess Donut. An enchanted pet biscuit makes Donut sapient, able to talk and use magic. Dinniman drew pet portraits at animal shows while outlining the story, and a demanding Persian at one show inspired Donut.

The series is LitRPG: crawlers pick classes, level up, manage inventories, and must reach the stairs before each floor collapses, all under an erratic system AI that builds traps from Earth’s pop culture. Mordecai, a former crawler, serves as their guide, and a Syndicate PR manager named Zev manages their image, because viewer popularity brings sponsors and loot boxes. The episode warns the books contain graphic violence and dark material, reads the humor as a coping mechanism and a critique of corporate exploitation, and covers the Soundbooth Theater audiobooks narrated by Jeff Hays, who voices about 200 characters.

• The series has sold over 14 million copies.
• Dinniman did not originally plan for Donut to become sapient.
• Companion Samantha is a foul-mouthed demigoddess trapped in the severed head of a sex doll.
• Fans asked Dinniman whether Annie Ellicott secretly voiced Donut, and he confirmed it was Jeff Hays.
• A live action Peacock series from Universal International Studios and Seth MacFarlane’s Fuzzy Door keeps Hays as Donut’s voice.