Variety is reporting that Nicolas Cage has landed the role of Joe Exotic in a scripted Tiger King series. As the outlet explains, “The story centers around Joe Schreibvogel, a.k.a Joe Exotic, 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.”
They also say that the eight-episode series will be produced by CBS television studios, and it will be based on the Texas Monthly article “Joe Exotic: A Dark Journey Into the World of a Man Gone Wild,” by Leif Reigstad. This will be the first regular television role of Cage’s career. Cage will also be one of the executive produce via Saturn Films.
This is the second announced scripted series about Tiger King. There is another that will star Kate McKinnon as Carole Baskin. That series will be released by Universal Content Productions.