Joe Exotic Series Starring Nicolas Cage Finds Home at Amazon

The previously announced Joe Exotic series starring Nicolas Cage has officially found a home at Amazon. According to Variety, the show is currently in the development phase, and has not yet been greenlit for a full series order. The series is being produced by CBS Television Studios and Imagine Television, with Amazon Studios now on board as well.

Joe Exotic is not based on the Netflix documentary series, Tiger King, but rather, on a Texas Monthly article: “Joe Exotic: A Dark Journey Into the World of a Man Gone Wild,” by Leif Reigstad. It will follow Joe Shreibvogel (Cage) as he develops into Joe Exotic, an Oklahoma zookeeper with political aspirations, who becomes a larger-than-life character that struggles with clinging to who is down inside as his infamy begins to rise. The series is being helmed by Dan Lagana and Paul Young. Lagana previously served as an executive producer on Netflix’s faux-docuseries American Vandal.

Notably, this marks Cage’s first regular television role. He’s had a long and illustrious film career, even previously winning an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in the 1995 drama film Leaving Las Vegas. He was later nominated for an second Oscar in the same category for 2002s Adaptation.

If Joe Exotic does get picked up for a series order, it will be the second series from the bizarre story to do so. NBC has ordered a scripted series, tentatively titled Tiger King, that will revolve around the contentious relationship between Exotic and Carole Baskin. SNL star Kate McKinnon will be playing Baskin, but there has been no word on who will be playing Exotic in that series. According to TVLine, the limited series will follow Baskin as she learns about Exotic using his zoo to breed big cats for profit, which does not sit well with her.

“She sets out to shut down his venture, inciting a quickly escalating rivalry,” an official synopsis reads. “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.” While the show will feature real-life people from Netflix’s massively popular docu-series, Tiger King, it will actually be based on Wondery’s Joe Exotic podcast.