Kate McKinnon's ‘Joe Exotic' Series Ordered by NBCUniversal

McKinnon also will be an executive producer for the show

BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 05: Kate McKinnon attends the 77th Annual Golden Globe Awards at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 05, 2020 in Beverly Hills, California.
Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

The saga of Joe Exotic is getting another Hollywood chapter, with Kate McKinnon starring as his rival in a limited TV series.

The “Saturday Night Live” star will play Carole Baskin, who sought to shut down Joseph Maldonado-Passage’s for-profit breeding of big cats. The conflict became a pop culture sensation with Netflix’s docuseries “Tiger King.”

The series, ordered without a pilot episode, will be based on the Wondery podcast “Joe Exotic,” NBCUniversal Television and Streaming said Tuesday.

Kate McKinnon picked up some Hungarian language while filming "The Spy Who Dumped Me" in Budapest through a '90s rap song by Animal Cannibals, "Yozsefváros."

It's planned for release across three corporate siblings: the NBC broadcast network, cable’s USA channel and the recently launched Peacock streaming service, NBC Universal said.

McKinnon also will be an executive producer for the show with the working title of “Joe Exotic,” Maldonado-Passage's nickname. He's also known by the surname Schreibvogel.

Maldonado-Passage is serving a 22-year federal prison term for killing five tigers and plotting to have Baskin killed. In June, a federal judge awarded Baskin ownership of the private Oklahoma zoo run by Maldonado-Passage.

The Joe Exotic role has yet to be cast, NBCUniversal said. Production and release dates were not announced.


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