Joe Exotic Drama Starring Nicholas Cage Lands at Amazon

A scripted series, still untitled, about “Tiger King’s” Joe Exotic played by Oscar winner Nicholas Cage, has been picked up by Amazon. From CBS Television Studios and Imagine Television, the series is is based on the Texas Monthly article “Joe Exotic: A Dark Journey Into the World of a Man Gone Wild,” by Leif Reigstad. The story centers around Joe Shreibvogel (Cage), 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.

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.

The series is expected to debut on Amazon in 2021.