The first teaser has dropped for Joe vs. Carole, a Peacock show dramatizing the real-life rivalry between big cat lovers Joe Exotic and Carole Baskin, as featured in the Netflix docuseries Tiger King.
We’ll admit, the show looks fairly promising, especially with Kate McKinnon’s absolutely dead-ringer embodiment of Baskin, from what we can tell so far. John Cameron Mitchell isn’t quite the clone of Joe Exotic — looks-wise — as the McKinnon casting is, but the actor certainly looks to be embodying the spirit and accent of the real-life convicted attempted murder fairly well, too.
And Twin Peaks star Kyle MacLachlan is always a welcome appearance in a story as macabre, twisted, and strange as this one.
MacLachlan plays Carole’s current husband, Howard Baskin, who has joined his wife in her campaign against animal cruelty, specifically targeting Exotic.
The trailer did not show who — if anyone — would portray Carole’s first husband, Don Lewis. Though Exotic has long alleged that Carole perhaps murdered her husband, a revelation in season two of Tiger King raises questions about his disappearance. Specifically, a note from Homeland Security in the show seemed to indicate the government agency found Lewis “alive and well” in Costa Rica years after his 1997 disappearance.
The series also stars Brian Van Holt, Sam Keeley, Nat Wolf, Marlo Kelly, William Fichtner, Dean Winters, David Wenham, according to Deadline.
The series comes from showrunner Etan Frankel, who is the executive producer and writer of the limited series. It is based on the 2020 Wondery podcast, Joe Exotic: Tiger King hosted and reported by Robert Moor.
Joe vs. Carole comes to Peacock March 3.
