Our Take
Let's get one thing straight: Will Poulter would be an excellent Carl, but the real news here is that Peacock still hasn't announced who will play the man who enters the Dungeon without shoes or pants, and that silence is a much bigger problem than any casting speculation. According to a report from our publication, the MCU's forgotten Adam Warlock star is being floated as the ideal candidate to carry the show alongside Jeff Hays' already-confirmed Princess Donut, and while Poulter's range across comedy, horror, and genuine pathos makes him a credible choice, the showrunners have a much more fundamental issue to solve first. The adaptation's success doesn't hinge on whether one particular actor fits, it hinges on whether anyone can make a live-action Carl feel real enough to hold a conversation with a CGI cat who talks like a Regency-era aristocrat. As we've noted in our coverage of New Achievement: Overpriced Boxes for Crawlers Who Finished the Book, this franchise has built its audience on the specific chemistry between a traumatized Coast Guard vet and his weaponized Persian princess, and no amount of budget or prestige casting can fake that bond if the actor doesn't earn it.
Matt Dinniman said at New York Comic-Con that he wants someone who can be both goofy and "really scary," and that's the correct instinct, but it also describes roughly half the working actors in Hollywood between the ages of twenty-five and thirty-five. What makes this casting uniquely difficult is that Carl isn't a standard action hero, he's a man who spends the first book in his underwear, who cries over dead crawlers, who adopts a velociraptor because a little girl asked him to, and who, by the later floors, becomes something close to a monster. Poulter's Adam Warlock in *Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3* showed that exact tonal whiplash: violent fury one moment, deadpan confusion the next, and a genuine tenderness toward a fuzzy alien creature that mirrors Carl's relationship with Donut. But the comparison only goes so far. Warlock had a single movie arc; Carl has eight books of grinding, grieving, and escalating rage, and the actor who takes this role needs to be ready for a commitment that could run a decade or more. The Crawlers, Your Royal Court Collection Arrives November 2026 article reminded us that this franchise is already planning physical merchandise two years out, which means Peacock is thinking long-term, and long-term casting for a character this specific is not a decision you rush.
The practical takeaway for readers is this: the casting of Carl is the single make-or-break choice for this adaptation, and while Will Poulter is a strong candidate, the showrunners should be looking for someone who can hold the screen opposite a voice performance that fans already consider definitive. Jeff Hays has already set the bar for Donut, and the actor playing Carl needs to match that energy without being swallowed by it. Poulter has the resume, the age, and the demonstrated ability to sell a relationship with a non-human character, but so did Peter Claffey and Cameron Monaghan, who were also mentioned in the same report. The real question isn't who looks right on paper, it's who can make you believe that a barefoot man and his talking cat would rather burn down an entire dungeon system than let each other die. That's the audition no one has seen yet, and until Peacock announces a name, every theory is just a wish.