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‘Joe vs Carole’: ‘Tiger King’-inspired TV series starring Kate McKinnon gets first trailer

Kate McKinnon, seen here at the 77th Annual Golden Globe Awards in Jan. 2020, stars as Carole Baskin opposite John Cameron Mitchell's Joe Exotic in Peacock's scripted series. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)

(NEXSTAR) — It’s the story you already know, now told by a bunch of people you probably also know.

Peacock has released the first trailer for “Joe vs Carole,” an upcoming scripted drama series based on the events that inspired the Wondery podcast “Joe Exotic: Tiger King,” and Netflix’s “Tiger King” docuseries.


“The story you know was only half the tale,” the trailer teases.

Peacock’s adaptation, starring Kate McKinnon (“SNL”) as Carole Baskin and John Cameron Mitchell (“Hedwig and the Angry Inch”) as Joe Exotic, is said to be based specifically on the Wondery podcast, which was hosted and reported by Robert Moor. McKinnon is also an executive producer of the Peacock series.

“The limited series will center on Carole Baskin, a big cat enthusiast, who learns that fellow exotic animal lover Joe ‘Exotic’ Schreibvogel is breeding and using his big cats for profit,” per a description offered by Peacock. “She sets out to shut down his venture, inciting a quickly escalating rivalry. But Carole has a checkered past of her own and when the claws come out, Joe will stop at nothing to expose what he sees as her hypocrisy. The results prove dangerous.”

In addition to McKinnon and Mitchell, “Joe vs Carole” will star Kyle MacLachlan, Dean Winters and William Fichtner. The series debuts March 3 on Peacock’s streaming platform.

Peacock’s scripted take on the “Tiger King” drama was one of several to be announced following the success of the podcast and docuseries. One, which was set to star Nicolas Cage as Exotic, was shelved as it is “no longer relevant,” Cage told Variety in July 2021. Rob Lowe had also teased his possible casting as Joe Exotic in a Ryan Murphy-helmed production, though it’s unclear if the project is still in the works.