‘Joe Exotic’ Series Starring Kate McKinnon As Carole Baskin To Air On NBC, Peacock & USA
It seems like it’s been years sinceTiger Kingdominated the social media sphere, but in reality it was just at the beginning of lockdown that the Netflix docuseries became a viral sensation, prompting Hollywood to scramble to get as many Joe Exotic projects started as possible. But beforeTiger Kingthere wasJoe Exotic, a Wondery podcast that covered the same story last year and quickly got picked up for a TV series adaptation. In November 2019, it was reported thatKate McKinnonwas set to star in the series as Carole Baskin, the owner of Big Cat Rescue and the mortal enemy of Joe Exotic. Nearly a year later, theJoe ExoticTV series has been picked up straight to series by not one, but three different platforms: NBC, the streaming service Peacock, and USA.
Deadline reports that the limited seriesJoe Exotic(working title) is receiving an unprecedented three-platform rollout across three different NBCUniversal properties: the broadcast network NBC, the streamer Peacock, and the basic cable network USA. TheJoe Exoticseries was originally sent up at Universal Content Productions last year, based on the second season of Wondery’sOver My Dead Bodypodcast, and with interest in the story spiking due to the sensational popularity of Netflix’sTiger King, it is getting this unprecedented multi-platform rollout.
Written byEtan Frankel, the limited series is based on “true events following Carole Baskin (McKinnon), a big cat enthusiast, who learns that when fellow exotic animal lover Joe ‘Exotic’ Schreibvogel is breeding and using his big cats for profit, she sets out to shut down his venture, inciting a quickly escalating rivalry. But Carole has a checkered past of her own and when the claws come out, Joe will stop at nothing to expose what he sees as her hypocrisy. The results prove dangerous.”
Frankel also executive produces via his overall deal with UCP, a division of Universal Studio Group. McKinnon executive produces along with Wondery’s Hernan Lopez, Marshall Lewy and Aaron Hart.
McKinnon is set to play Baskin, who was the target of Joe Exotic’s assassination attempt which would get him arrested and convicted of a felony, for which he is currently serving his sentence. Like Joe Exotic, Baskin has been the source of much public interest too, due to the murky circumstances of her husband’s death (which many speculated that she had a part in) — a subject that McKinnon’sSaturday Night Livecostar Chloe Fineman poked fun at in a recent episode,much to Baskin’s chagrin. McKinnon will have to bring her A-game to outdo Fineman’s prettyspot-on impression. The role of Joe “Exotic” Schreibvogel has not yet been cast for this show.
Joe Exoticis one of two high-profile scripted series adaptations of the larger-than-life figure, including one starringNicolas Cage as Joe Exotic. But at this point, with theTiger Kinghype having faded so quickly, it feels like these projects are a little outdated before they even get before cameras.
