If someone asked you what the biggest sci-fi franchise in 2026 is, you might be tempted to lean into the classics. After all, Star Wars does have a new movie coming out with The Mandalorian and Grogu next month and Star Trek has been crushing it in comics. Both Star Wars and Star Trek are pretty popular, but they aren’t the hottest franchise this year. That distinction belongs to a franchise that, in many ways, is only getting started — and its latest sequel arrives sooner than you think.)
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Dungeon Crawler Carl has become a massive sci-fi juggernaut this year. The book, written by Matt Dinniman and initially self-published by Dinniman via Royal Road in 2020, the book had an early loyal reader base, growing in particular popularity when it was added to Amazon. Eventually, Penguin Random House picked up the series, publishing via Ace Books in 2024 and popularity has exploded from there with the series encompassing seven books to date, and number eight, A Parade of Horribles, comes out May 12th.
Dungeon Crawler Carl Is Huge and Only Getting Bigger
If by some chance you haven’t heard of or read Dungeon Crawler Carl yet, here is your primer. The series follows U.S. Coast Guard veteran Carl and his ex-girlfriend’s prize cat GC, BWR, NW Princess Donut the Queen Anne Chonk (you can just call her Princess Donut) who find themselves not only one of just a few survivors of the destruction of the Earth and its civilization by the alien Borant Corporation’s mining operation. The pair are forced, along with others, to compete in a dungeon crawl as part of an intergalactic reality game show, Dungeon Crawler World. The series is a high stakes fight for survival with twists, turns, and surprises that mimics RPGs while also seeing Carl become determined to fight back and not be broken.
The series’ wild popularity has led to major expansions of the franchise. Beyond the books, it was television rights for the series were sold in 2024 and it was announced earlier this month that a live-action adaptation was in development for Peacock with Dinniman serving as an executive producer. A webcomic adaptation was launched in 2025, a graphic novel of the first book is coming out on May 19th, while an in-universe expansion graphic novel, Dungeon Crawler Carl: Crocodile, is expected in 2027. There are also not one, but two games coming.
What Do We Know About the Next Dungeon Crawler Carl Book?
Of course, even as the world of Dungeon Crawler Carl expands beyond the page, the core of the story really comes down to the books and fans area hugely excited for. Here’s everything we know about the book so far. According to the official description of the book, A Parade of Horribles will see Carl and Donut on the tenth floor of the dungeon and forced to compete in what appears to be a surprisingly normal set of tasks in context to other things they’ve been made to do, though things will quickly escalate. The book is expected to be an explosive chapter of the story, considering that the story’s AI is growing unstable and outside the game, chaos and mass panic is spreading in the wake of the Faction Wars.
The stakes for Carl and Donut — and the rest of the Crawlers — are set to be higher than ever in A Parade of Horribles but we also know that A Parade of Horribles isn’t the end of the story. Dinniman has said on Reddit that there are 10 total books in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series expected. For now, though, we’re all just looking ahead to May 12th when A Parade of Horribles arrives.
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