Joe vs. Carole, a scripted drama about Tiger King stars Joe Exotic and Carole Baskin, premieres on Peacock March 3. The series is based on the podcast “Joe Exotic,” hosted by Robert Moore. There are eight hour-long episodes.
Docuseries Tiger King premiered on Netflix in 2020.
John Cameron Mitchell plays Exotic on the Peacock show and Kate McKinnon portrays Baskin. Kyle MacLachlan, Brian Van Holt, Sam Keeley and Nat Wolff are also in the cast.
The show centers on Baskin, a big cat enthusiast, who learns that fellow tiger lover Joe “Exotic” Schreibvogel is breeding and using his cats for profit. She sets out to shut down his venture, inciting a rivalry. Baskin has a past of her own, and Exotic will stop at nothing to expose what he sees as her hypocrisy.
"Joe vs. Carole is a wild ride. It's a fun and rich journey into the story of people who live very extreme lives,” said Etan Frankel, executive producer and showrunner. “When I took on this project a year and a half ago, I found Joe Exotic and Carole Baskin to be utterly fascinating, and this crazy tale about two big cat lovers quickly became an important story for me to tell. I hope that when people watch Joe vs. Carole, just maybe they'll see these people that they thought they knew in a brand-new way.”
Frankel executive produces with McKinnon and Alex Katsnelson, and Wondery’s Hernan Lopez, Marshall Lewy and Aaron Hart. Justin Tipping executive produces too.
UCP produces the show.
“We knew it would take two extraordinary actors to portray these larger-than-life people as the complex, three-dimensional individuals that they are,” added Frankel. “John Cameron Mitchell is one of the most gifted and thoughtful actors I've ever worked with. He cares so deeply about the work, and his performance is breathtaking. And Kate McKinnon is simply remarkable. She is able to make us double over with laughter one moment and then break our hearts the next. It was an absolute thrill to watch these two exceptional actors morph into these roles." ■
