Nicholas Cage Set To Become Joe Exotic In Tiger King Scripted Series

Academy Award winner Nicholas Cage has been penned to play Joe Exotic, from viral docuseries Tiger King, in a new series from CBS Studios and Imagine Entertainment.

Reported by Variety, the eight-episode program around the underworld of big cat breeding will be brought to us by American Vandal showrunner Dan Lagana, along with Paul Young. The story was optioned from a Texas Weekly article from Leif Reigstad titled Joe Exotic: A Dark Journey Into the World of a Man Gone Wild and will soon be pitched to networks and streaming platforms. 

Audiences will perhaps be surprised the show would not definitively be on Netflix
NFLX
with the platform presumably owning some – if not likely all – of the IP associated with their program Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness. However as the coming series is technically based on separate IP the loophole allows producers to exploit the true-crime product outside of the hit Netflix docuseries without their involvement. 

The announcement heralds the second series based around the viral hit show that has attracted more than 64 million viewers since it hit Netflix in March. The first scripted drama series – announced last year – is based on Wondery podcast Joe Exotic: Tiger King and will star Saturday Night Live’s Kate McKinnon as Exotic’s bitter rival Carole Baskin. 

With many actors, known usually for film, crossing over into TV recently it is no surprise that Nicholas Cage has now been added to the growing list. The movie star known for hit films Con Air, Face Off, Leaving Las Vegas, The Rock, National Treasure, and Gone in 60 Seconds marks his first TV project with the production. Known as the small screen the sector has experienced a boom in past years through the advent of video-on-demand platforms and an increased appetite overall for different types of content.  

The series is set to show how the Zookeeper fought to save his park and the accompanying toll that took on him leading to the eventual birthing of his moniker, Joe Exotic.