At the height of the Tiger King craze, which incidentally occurred during the early days of the pandemic, actor Nicholas Cage announced he would be playing the eccentric character in a scripted TV series based on the story of Joe Exotic. After a positive reaction from the initial press, Amazon Prime was set to pick up the venture by Imagine Television and CBS Television Studios.
Over a year later, Tiger King is no longer a number one trending topic. Without that status, it appears Amazon is no longer interested. Even Cage himself understood his impressive acting props were not going to be enough to give the show the momentum the topic once had. Cage told Variety, “I think Amazon ultimately felt that it was material that had become past tense because it took so long for it come together. They felt at one point that it was lightning in a bottle, but that point has since faded into the distance and it’s no longer relevant.”
Deadline reported the show did not make it past the writing stage and is unlikely to be the subject of additional platform shopping for now. The role would have been the TV debut for the Oscar-winning actor, but the pandemic-induced delay in production resulted in a missed opportunity for all parties involved.
While Cage’s version is not going to be available to stream anytime soon, Tiger King fans can get their fix from the upcoming series set to premiere on Peacock, with John Cameron Mitchell playing Joe Exotic, alongside SNL’s Kate McKinnon starring as Carol Baskin.
Were you looking forward to the show? Let us know in the comments.
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