Kate McKinnon’s Joe Exotic Series Will Be Exclusive to Peacock

NBCUniversal’s upcoming Joe Exotic series will have Saturday Night Live star Kate McKinnon in the role of Carole Baskin, and now we know where the show will actually be available. Initial thoughts were that it would air on NBC, but Chairman of Entertainment Content at NBCUniversal Television and Streaming Susan Rovner revealed to THR that it is coming exclusively to NBCUniversal’s growing Peacock streaming service, and Rovner feels it’s a perfect fit for Peacock’s ability to push the envelope a bit more than their other networks, and you can find Rovner’s comments on the decision below.

“Joe Exotic is shaping up to be a bold and provocative drama and perfectly suited for Peacock, where we can push the envelope and truly bring the story to life in a way that we would be unable to do on broadcast television,” Rovner said. “Moving Joe Exotic to Peacock exclusively is just one example of the strengths of our new structure, which gives us the ability to let the art dictate the platform and not the other way around.”

We don’t know much else about the show or additional casting, but anyone who watches McKinnon’s stellar work on SNL every week knows what McKinnon can do, and from Rovner’s comments it seems this is more of a drama than a comedic take on Exotic and Baskin’s story, one that was documented in Netflix’s hit Tiger King series.

The role of Exotic will be played by Hedwig and the Angry Inch actor John Cameron Mitchell, while McKinnon will star as Baskin and also executive produce alongside showrunner Etan Frankel. Hernan Lopez, Marshall Lewy, and Aaron Hart will also executive produce. Justin Tipping (Flatbush Misdemeanors) will direct the show’s first four episodes, which includes the pilot. Black Widow director Cate Shortland will direct episodes five through eight.

We aren’t sure of a premiere date yet, but we’ll keep you posted.

This isn’t the only series being developed based on the Tiger King premise, as there is another series being developed over at Amazon starring Nicolas Cage as Exotic. The series is based specifically on the article in Texas Monthly by writer Leif Reigstad, which was titled Joe Exotic: A Dark Journey Into the World of a Man Gone Wild. It will chronicle Joseph Allen Schreibvogel’s journey to becoming Joe Exotic and beyond, though no date for this has been revealed either.

Are you excited for the new Joe Exotic series? Let us know in the comments.