Three Actors Who Could Play Mordecai in Peacock’s Dungeon Crawler Carl TV Series

The television adaptation of Dungeon Crawler Carl is coming together. Peacock ordered the hit LitRPG series straight-to-series in June. The adaptation has announced its showrunners. Audiobook narrator Jeff Hays is returning to voice Princess Donut. The show is already working on mocap for the Queen Anne Chonk, but she’s not the only character that’s going to need special effects to bring them to life. There’s one member of the Princess Posse that will change appearance regularly, so the actor they cast may need to be just as versatile. When Carl and Donut drop into the dungeon, their first ally is a shapeshifter whose appearance and demeanor change with every floor. A former crawler himself, he specializes in making potions and doling out sage counsel. The show is going to need an actor that can do that, while sometimes looking like a toad.

The Royal Court of Princess Donut’s game guide through “Dungeon Crawler World: Earth” is a changeling named Mordecai. Mordecai was a bird creature called a Skyfowl until he changed his race during his crawl. He faced a tragedy during his time in the dungeon, imbuing him with a sense of caution and care for his wards. It’s a meaty role, and some actors are already trying to get in on playing the gruff Fire Mage Arcanist.

Seth Green has thrown his hat in the ring to play Mordecai. The Robot Chicken co-creator and Family Guy voice actor acknowledged being a fan of the books and said, “I think I would make a really good Mordecai. I don’t know what their plan is.” His connection to Seth MacFarlane could get him an inside track on the role, but there are still a few other actors that should be in the running for the resident potion master.

3. Alan Tudyk

Alan Tudyk could probably play half the cast on his own. Best known as the pilot Wash from Firefly, the actor has made an impression as a humorous voice of reason managing a headstrong leader. Mordecai is in a similar boat guiding crawlers that may not always agree with him or follow his advice. The character could give the actor an opportunity to showcase all of his skills. Whoever fills the role of Mordecai needs to be able to adapt to all of his new forms. Sometimes he’ll even need to show the growing pains of adapting to his new races as well. Tudyk has done that throughout four seasons of Resident Alien. Masterfully bouncing between a performance covered in prosthetics and an expressive face free of such confines, the role gives a holistic example of how Tudyk can express himself with deep nuance both in and out of makeup.

As the books progress, there is at least one iteration of Mordecai that will require a darker and more ominous version of the game guide. Tudyk has demonstrated he can make that turn as Mr. Nobody on Doom Patrol. The dark character could be hilarious one minute and deeply disturbing the next. His voice work as the evil King Candy in Wreck-It Ralph also proved the actor could turn a performance on a dime. The Disney Legend can more than handle the voice work needed for the role, but he’s also been a pioneer in mocap performance. Whether discussing his role as the sardonic droid K-2SO or less caustic android Sonny in I, Robot, the actor is always at the top of the most wanted list for parts that require special effects and a memorable voice.

2. Brad Dourif

For a few fans on Reddit, Jeff Hays’ Mordecai voice brought to mind Doc Cochran from Deadwood, played by Brad Dourif. Considering the actor has worked in both a long-lasting horror franchise and one of the biggest fantasy series of all time, he’s more than capable of stepping into the dungeon. In the show Deadwood, Doc Cochran is a medical man just trying to do his best to serve the residents of the wild frontier while navigating the politics of powerful men. That’s not far off from Mordecai, who just wants to keep his crawlers alive while the universe and dungeon AI conspire against them.

Dourif isn’t just another voice actor. He’s behind one of horror’s most recognizable little monsters, Chucky. The actor has provided the voice of the evil doll in most iterations since the first Child’s Play in 1988. He was replaced in the reboot film by Mark Hamill, but returned to the character when Chucky made the jump to TV. His maniacal laugh and sinister plans make him one of the most memorable characters of all time and we’d love to see that energy in the many faces of Mordecai.

When Peter Jackson worked with Dourif as Wormtongue on Lord of the Rings, he declared the actor “brilliant.” Thanks to the performer’s method acting and refusal to drop his English accent, the director had never heard Dourif’s native West Virginian drawl. That baritone could resonate as Mordecai, and it’s the reason so many can picture him, thanks to Jeff Hays laying the groundwork in the audiobook. Technically, the actor retired from everything but any future Chucky work, but maybe the appeal of ending his career with another memorable role could coax him into the dungeon.

1. Nick Offerman

When we first meet Mordecai, the former Skyfowl is in the last year of his indentureship to the dungeon. His gruff yet practical nature makes him a solid game guide, but he’s well aware that he’s working under and often against a bureaucracy. Nick Offerman knows a thing or two about playing a character that knows their way around some bureaucratic red tape. Ron Swanson built an entire career out of it.

Offerman played Ron Swanson for seven seasons of Parks and Rec. The freedom and bacon-loving Director of the Pawnee Parks and Recreation Department was beloved for his direct nature and mistrust of the government. The actor could easily slide into the rhythms of the mistrustful Mordecai. But his role of Bill in The Last of Us proves Offerman can more than handle the big emotional beats between Mordecai, Carl, and Donut. In The Last of Us, Offerman plays a character that has to open his life back up to potential love despite the apocalypse happening around him. Mordecai is in a similar situation, opening himself up to the possibility of a new found family in the Princess Posse while trying to keep them alive.

One plot line from the books will find Mordecai showing a softer side while tending to a group of refugees. Offerman’s most recent performance in Margo’s Got Money Problems showcases his ability to play a larger-than-life character that has a soft spot for helping people in a tight spot. His ability to go from brawler to babysitter in a beat is an attribute that Mordecai has to have as well.

Playing Mordecai would also give the actor an opportunity to show off an aspect of his background that rarely gets mentioned. Before television, Offerman trained in Kabuki theater under Shozo Sato at the University of Illinois. He detailed in his book Build Your Own Canoe that he even traveled Japan with a Kabuki production. That kind of highly stylized performance could come in handy for a character whose body changes from floor to floor. Offerman might be known for playing a curmudgeon, but he’s proven he can bring so much more to the role. It’s hard to imagine anyone else taking up the mantle.

Dungeon Crawler Carl is a sprawling, sci-fi and fantasy-laden epic bound together by an ensemble of very dynamic personalities. Mordecai is the resolute glue between those differing archetypes. He is the audience’s guide and moral compass as Carl and Donut face overwhelming odds. By his left tit, we hope one of these three actors is cast in the lynchpin role.

Dungeon Crawler Carl: 3 Actors Perfect for the Lead In Peacock’s Adaptation, And They All Have Sci-Fi Experience