Amazon Studios Joins Joe Exotic Limited Series Starring Nicolas Cage

Amazon has joined the scripted series about the main character of the Netflix documentary series “Tiger King’s” Joe Exotic starring Nicolas Cage.

Earlier in May, it was reported the project was in the works from CBS Television Studios and Imagine Television. Amazon Studios has now boarded the project and will produce along with CBS TV Studios and Imagine TV.

The limited series from the showrunner of American Vandal has been pitched as an eight-episode run will be based on the Texas Monthly article "Joe Exotic: A Dark Journey Into the World of a Man Gone Wild" by journalist Leif Reigstad.

The story centers around Joe Exotic (Cage), 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 Exotic's journey from Joe Schreibvogel (his real name) through to the creation of the character, highlighting how Schreibvogel lost his identity along the way.

CBS TV Studios optioned the article in June of 2019. Dan Lagana will serve as writer, showrunner, and executive producer under his overall deal at CBS TV Studios with Paul Young executive producing via Make Good Content. Imagine’s Brian Grazer and Samie Kim Falvey will executive produce for Imagine. Cage will executive produce via Saturn Films. Scott Brown and Megan Creydt will executive produce for Texas Monthly. Imagine’s James Seidman and Natalie Berkus are overseeing the project for the company.

This will be the first television role for Nicolas Cage, and there are few wilder roles the actor would be more suited for. He has long been praised for his film work, having won the Academy Award for best actor for “Leaving Las Vegas” and getting a nomination in the same category for “Adaptation.”

There is another untitled series starring Kate McKinnon as Carole Baskin has been set up with a multi-platform series order at NBC, Peacock, and USA Network.