Peacock, NBC, and USA Network have ordered a new series based on Tiger King‘s Carole Baskin and Joe Exotic, according to Variety. The limited series, entitled Joe Exotic, will star Kate McKinnon (Ghostbusters, Saturday Night Live) while Etan Frankel (Friday Night lights, Shameless, Animal Kingdom) will serve as writer and executive producer. The project began its initial developmental stages in November.
Tiger King, which was released to Netflix in March of 2020, follows the life of Oklahoma based zookeeper Joe as he fights for the rights to his zoo when the owner of Big Cat Rescue Carole Baskin, played by McKinnon in the new series, alleges that he abuses and exploits his animals. This multi-platform series will center around Carole and her own experiences when Joe accuses her of killing her missing husband and feeding him to her tigers, then later allegedly forging his will. The series will serve as a scripted series while the aforementioned Tiger King was a docuseries.
Tiger King quickly became a media sensation, reaching 34.3 million viewers in the first 10 days of its release, according to Variety. As well as starring in the series, McKinnon is expected to executive produce alongside Frankel, Hernan Lopez (Over My Dead Bod), Marshall Levy (Lansky, American Soul), and Aaron Hart (Mad Men, Criminal Minds).