Nic Cage to play Joe Exotic in new TV series

Nicolas Cage will play ‘Tiger King’ star Joe Exotic in a scripted TV series.

The eccentric zookeeper rose to fame after the release of the Netflix docuseries ‘Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem And Madness’ - of which he was the subject - and it has now been revealed that a television drama is now in the works, with Nicolas set to star as the eponymous Tiger King.

CBS Studios announced plans for the eight-part limited series on Monday (04.05.20), but as of the time of writing, the show has not yet landed at a network.

According to Us Weekly magazine, the project will be based on Leif Reigstad’s Texas Monthly article, ‘Joe Exotic: A Dark Journey Into the World of a Man Gone Wild’, rather than the Netflix documentary.

The series will mark the first TV show that movie star Nicolas has ever starred in, and he will also work as a producer for the series alongside Brian Grazer, Samie Kim Falvey, Dan Lagana, Paul Young, Scott Brown and Megan Creydt.

A log line for the planned show reads: “Joe Shreibvogel, an eccentric, exotic zookeeper in Oklahoma who fights to keep his park - even at the risk of losing his sanity. The series will live in the lion’s den with Joe, explore how he became Joe Exotic, and how he lost himself to a character of his own creation.”

For Nicolas, the role comes after several actors, including Kevin Bacon, Rob Lowe, and Orlando Bloom, have been eyed to play Joe - who is currently serving 22 years in prison for plotting to murder big cat sanctuary owner Carole Baskin - in both film and TV adaptations of his life.

This article was first published on BANG Showbiz and is republished here with permission.