The Next Tiger King Project: Nic Cage Cast As Joe Exotic
It's been such a big hit, that now we might get Tiger King season 2.
This article is more than 2 years old
Adults, kids, families across the globe have had to resort to entertainment directed solely from the home. This means board games and puzzles galore. It also means the streaming services are getting a heavy workout, testing how strong their infrastructure is with the overload of people. The timing, as they say, couldn’t have been better for Netflix and a little show called Tiger King. It’s been such a big hit, that now we might get Tiger King season 2 and maybe even a Tiger King movie.
Tiger King: Netflix The Movie
Netflix is turning the popular documentary series into a movie. The film will dramatize the events of the movie and the life of Joe Exotic. According to Production Weekly the the Tiger King movie, “Centers on the story of Joseph Maldonado-Passage, aka ‘Joe Exotic,’ a former Oklahoma tiger-zoo owner who’s serving a 22-year prison sentence for his role in a murder-for-hire plot against Carole Baskin, who was trying to shut down his big-cat operation.”
The creator of American Horror story, Ryan Murphy, is set to helm the new Tiger King movie project. Meanwhile Rob Lowe is listed as being attached to the project. We don’t know for certain which character he’ll play, but given this photo Lowe posted on Instagram…
I think it’s safe to assume Rob Lowe is playing the Tiger King himself, Joe Exotic.
Tiger King: The CBS Miniseries
In addition to the Tiger King movie being worked on by Netflix, CBS is working on a Tiger King scripted miniseries. Their miniseries will be based on an article written about Joe Exotic in Texas Monthly called “Joe Exotic: A Dark Journey Into the World of a Man Gone Wild”. It won’t be based on the Netflix docuseries, probably because Netflix owns the rights to that.
The best thing about this project, though, is who they’ve cast to play Joe Exotic. The trades report that the acting madman himself, Nicolas Cage, has been cast as Joe.
If you’re not aware of why this is the most perfect casting ever, it’s probably because you haven’t seen any of the completely insane projects Nic Cage has been involved in recently. Here’s a taste…
How Popular Is Tiger King?
The original Tiger King series is the most watched show in the world. In the first ten days it was on Netflix, 30.4 million people watched the series. It holds the record for being in the Netflix top ten most watched shows for longer than any other show in the streaming service’s history.
Now after a month, Netflix has revealed that 64 million households watched Tiger King. Given that there’s often more than one person in a household, there’s no telling how many people actually watched it. You can probably double that number and get close.
The previous champ as the most watched show on Netflix was The Witcher with 76 million total viewers. It took months for Witcher to reach those numbers. While it’s still early days, Tiger King hit 64 million in only one month.
And it’s still going. By the time all is said and done tens of millions more people will watch the show. Don’t be surprised if it tops 100 million.
What Is Tiger King?
Tiger King is a true-crime documentary miniseries that tells the story of big cat (tigers) owners and conservationists while introducing the world to some of the most eccentric characters ever seen on TV. The series focus’ mainly on Joe Exotic, former owner of Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park. We say former because Exotic is now serving 22 years in federal prison for convictions on two counts of murder for hire, eight violations of the Lacey Act, and nine violations of the Endangered Species Act.
The series also focus’ on Big Cat Rescue owner Carole Baskin. The feud between both Exotic and Baskin is the driving force behind the series with things taking a dark turn as the series unfolds. Those two counts of murder for hire leveled against Exotic were for the fact he attempted to hire an undercover FBI agent to kill Baskin.
Tiger King Season 2
The series runs in 7 parts and fans can’t seem to get enough. Which begs the question, is there more? Will we be able to see a Tiger King season 2 in the near future?
Producers of the series, Eric Goode and Rebecca Chaiklin were recently asked by Entertainment Weekly if Tiger King season 2 will be a thing and here is what Chaiklin had to say. “…To be continued… I mean, yes we have a crazy amount of footage and it’s a story that’s still unfolding. We’re not sure yet, but there could be a follow-up on this story because there’s a lot that’s still unfolding in it, and it’ll be just as dramatic and just as colorful as what has unfolded these past few years.“
With Joe Exotic in prison for the next 22 years, what more could actually in Tiger King season 2? Well, one of the big stories to come from the series is what exactly happened to Baskin’s ex-husband Jack “Don” Lewis? He mysteriously went missing back in 1997, never to be heard from again. The prevailing thought, though, is that Baskin killed him and then fed him to the tigers. Why would she have done this?
Much of the speculation concerns Lewis’ affinity for women outside his marriage to Baskin. Things went from bad to worse between the two with Lewis eventually trying to obtain a restraining order on Baskin for what he said was life-threatening claims. With his disappearance case being reopened, there is much more light to be shed on Baskin in Tiger King season 2, even though there is yet to be any proof nor has there ever been charges levied against her.
There is also more to be said about another of Tiger King’s eccentric characters, Jeff Lowe. He is still wanted in Las Vegas and there is speculation that he was heavily involved in the murder-for-hire plot that Exotic is sitting in prison for. The fact that he was never called in to testify in the case has raised eyebrows.
Bhagavan “Doc” Antle is another character with more to say, in fact, he’s been quite vocal as of late, unhappy with how the series portrayed his zoo. He has taken to social media to express his displeasure so if and when a Tiger King season 2 comes out, expect Doc Antle to be a major contributor.
There is obviously much more to these stories in Tiger King season 2. The good thing right now is the Netflix series pretty much has everyone’s undivided attention. But here is a question to ponder. If it wasn’t for the mass lockdown, would Tiger King be as big as it is right now?
Where Is Joe Now?
Well Joe Exotic is still sitting in prison, of course. After the success of the Tiger King documentary, Netflix interviews Joe from prison. Here’s what he had to say…
Sounds ready for Tiger King season 2 to me.
Free Joe Exotic
Joe Exotic is in prison, but there’s hope he may get out thanks to a possible pardon from the President of the United States.
A reporter asked President Trump if he would pardon Joe Exotic and said, “I’ll take a look”. Here’s the exchange…
Carole Baskin Reacts To Tiger King
It took awhile, but Carole Baskin has finally reacted to the uber-popular Netflix documentary. As you’d expect from someone who appears in a documentary which seems to indicate she murdered her husband and fed him to tigers, she says the series got it all wrong.
“In the few years preceding his disappearance Don’s behavior was gradually showing signs of mental deterioration. Originally Don, from time to time, would buy vehicles or other equipment at auctions with a view to reselling them, although mostly he never got around to reselling them. But gradually his hoarding of junk that he brought to the 40 acres the sanctuary now sits on increased and involved junk of no value. He deteriorated into dumpster diving and even got stuck in a dumpster and called me crying because he did not know where he was.”
– -Carole Baskin
Basically when it comes to the suspicions around whether Carole murdered her husband, she’s sticking with the same story we saw her espouse in the documentary. That her husband Don was not doing well mentally.
She goes into great detail on her blog here, in which she attempts to discredit all the witnesses the doc interviewed against her.
If you want to know Carole’s overall reaction to the series though, here it is…
“When the directors of the Netflix documentary Tiger King came to us five years ago they said they wanted to make the big cat version of Blackfish (the documentary that exposed abuse at SeaWorld) that would expose the misery caused by the rampant breeding of big cat cubs for cub petting exploitation and the awful life the cats lead in roadside zoos and back yards if they survive.
There are not words for how disappointing it is to see that the series not only does not do any of that, but has had the sole goal of being as salacious and sensational as possible to draw viewers. As part of that, it has a segment devoted to suggesting, with lies and innuendos from people who are not credible, that I had a role in the disappearance of my husband Don in 1997. The series presents this without any regard for the truth or in most cases even giving me an opportunity before publication to rebut the absurd claims. They did not care about truth. The unsavory lies are better for getting viewers.
There is no short, simple way to refute so many lies. If you do want to know the truth, it requires understanding the history of events in the years before my husband’s disappearance and the roles and behaviors of the people interviewed in the series, which I have tried to do as concisely as I can below but still requires a few pages.”
Doc Antle Outside Tiger King
Tiger King’s Doc Antle has made a number of television appearances over his career. But this one may be his biggest and it seems it was totally accidental. Apparently he’s in the background of this famous Britney Spears performance at the VMAs…
