The cat's out of the bag!
Peacock released the first look at Kate McKinnon and John Cameron Mitchell as "Tiger King" characters Joe Exotic and Carole Baskin in "Joe vs. Carole" on Friday, Jan. 21. In the pictures, the "Saturday Night Live" alum wears a long blonde wig, chunky necklace and an eccentric blouse that one would imagine when thinking of the tiger rescuer, and the actor is just as impressive in Joe Exotic's cowboy hat and mullet.
Peacock also dropped a trailer for the series, giving fans an even closer look at Kate and John's transformation into the reality stars, whose Netflix docuseries "Tiger King" captivated the nation in March 2020. The preview details the increasing tensions between Joe and Carole, with the latter declaring, "It's war."
Over the course of eight, hour-long episodes, fans will also see Joe Exotic's lakeside wedding to Travis Maldonado and his traveling tiger show.
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Celebrities Can't Stop Dressing Like Tiger King's Joe Exotic and Carole Baskin
Series showrunner, writer and executive producer Etan Frankel said, "'Joe vs Carole' is a wild ride. It's a fun and rich journey into the story of people who live very extreme lives. When I took on this project a year and a half ago, I found Joe Exotic and Carole Baskin to be utterly fascinating, and this crazy tale about two big cat lovers quickly became an important story for me to tell. I hope that when people watch 'Joe vs Carole' just maybe they'll see these people that they thought they knew in a brand-new way."
(Warning: The trailer below contains an obscenity.)
Naturally, McKinnon and Cameron Mitchell are the perfect actors to portray the "larger-than-life" characters, he said: "It was an absolute thrill to watch these two exceptional actors morph into these roles."
Meanwhile, a separate Amazon Original series based on "Tiger King" remains dormant. In July, Nicolas Cage, who was going to portray Joe Exotic, confirmed that the streamer decided to shelve the project, telling Variety, "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."
"Joe vs. Carole" is available to stream beginning March 3.
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(E! and Peacock are both members of the NBCUniversal family.)