We already knew that actor Nicolas Cage was tapped to play Joe Shreibvogel (most commonly referred to as Joe Exotic)—he of Tiger King fame—in a new TV show inspired by the quarantine hit. Now, the project has a home: Amazon.
The new show will be based on a Texas Monthly article written by Leif Reigstad last year, Joe Exotic: A Dark Journey Into the World of a Man Gone Wild. Dan Lagana, who worked on American Vandal, optioned the piece last year and is currently writing the script for the show. He will also be the showrunner.
According to Deadline, the plot will focus on "an eccentric, exotic zookeeper in Oklahoma who fights to keep his park—even at the risk of losing his sanity." Expect Cage to dive into the psyche of his character, exploring his passion for animals, the lengths he's gone to to keep the park under control and, eventually (spoiler alert) his 22-year prison sentence for his role in a murder-for-hire plot against animal activist and archnemesis Carole Baskin. Fun fact: Shreibvogel recently made headlines again after sending a pardon request letter to United States President Donald Trump.
Speaking of Baskin: although we don't yet know who will play her in the new Amazon production, Saturday Night Live star Kate McKinnon is set to star and produce a yet-to-be-titled NBC show focused on the eccentric character (who is scheduled to appear on the next season of Dancing with the Stars in the United States).
Cage himself has got a few busy months ahead. The actor is working with Amazon on another project as well, a TV series that he will executive produce and star in based on the thriller novel Highfire, which was written by Eoin Colfer.
Given the fact that, according to Nielsen, Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness—the Netflix docuseries that first turned everyone's attention to the world of Joe Exotic during near global stay-at-home orders—drew in a whopping 34.3 million unique viewers within 10 days of its March release, we're sure that all the newly announced shows about the subject will find loads of fans. We are certainly part of them.