Tiger King series on Carole Baskin is in the works for NBC and Peacock
The limited series will star SNL's Kate McKinnon as Joe Exotic's nemesis, tiger-loving Baskin.
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Carole and Howard Baskin at their Big Cat Rescue animal sanctuary.
A Tiger King series starring Kate McKinnon as Carole Baskin is coming to NBC TV and its streaming service, Peacock. NBCUniversal Television confirmed Tuesday that it ordered a limited series revolving around Joe Exotic's nemesis Baskin, who runs the Big Cat Rescue animal sanctuary in Tampa, Florida.
The show, which is called Joe Exotic, will center on Baskin's campaign to shut down the Greater Wynnewood Zoo after she discovered Exotic was breeding tigers for profit. It'll be on NBCU's scripted entertainment platforms: NBC, Peacock and USA. The show, reported earlier by CNET sister site TV Guide, will be based on a podcast of the same name, with the role of Exotic yet to be cast.
"Kate McKinnon is a wonderful actress," Baskin said in an emailed statement to CNET. "We hope McKinnon has a passion for animals and that her series will focus on the horrible lives captive big cats lead when exploited by breeders like Joe Exotic. We further hope she urges the public to support the Big Cat Public Safety Act that would end the cub petting abuse in America."
Baskin added she hopes McKinnon reaches out "to discover who I am." She also asked the series to use CGI tigers rather than real big cats, so they don't "suffer just to entertain the audience."
Baskin continues to run her animal sanctuary with her husband Howard Baskin, and has called the Netflix documentary "salacious and sensational." The documentary aired Exotic's allegations that Baskin murdered her first husband, which she has refuted.
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Joe Exotic, whose legal name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage, is currently serving time in prison after being found guilty of hiring someone to murder Baskin, as well as on counts of falsifying wildlife records, killing tigers and selling tigers interstate. The zoo is now closing for good, CBS News reported last week. The park will become "a private film set for Tiger King related television content for cable and streaming services," owner Jeff Lowe said.
CBS Television is also working on a Tiger King-based series starring Nicolas Cage as Joe Exotic. The original Tiger King documentary is on Netflix.
Disclosure: CNET and CBS Television are owned by the same parent company, ViacomCBS.