'Joe vs. Carole': How Kate McKinnon and John Cameron Mitchell Humanize the Tiger King Story (Exclusive)

etonline.com:

Carole Baskin and wild animal zoo owner Joe Exotic are TV stars once again. This time, as the subjects of Peacock’s scripted, true-crime series,, starring Kate McKinnon and John Cameron Mitchell.

In April 2020, the two tiger enthusiasts unexpectedly became the biggest personalities in America thanks to the runaway success of the Netflix documentary,.

The seven-part series chronicled the escalating feud that emerged between the two as they fought over the livelihood of the big cats in Exotic’s captivity.

Things came to an unexpected end when Exotic attempted to have Baskin murdered but ended up behind bars instead. Two years later, their stories are being retold, but with more humility as the eight-part dramedy digs into Baskin and Exotic’s past lives, to show their stories before they were consumed by the lengthy legal battle. “It’s a very different approach to a somewhat similar story, where you go deep and you really care about these people,” Mitchell tells ET.“The docuseries was compelling, but it didn’t really go deep,” he explains, pointing out that moments that “formed Joe fully” were left out. “And this, you really go deep.” “I was really interested in, ‘How did these people become who they became before they crossed each other’s paths?’” says showrunner and executive producer Etan Frankel. “And then, how did those backstories and their life experiences impact what became this feud?” He points out, “Both Joe and Carole experienced a great deal of trauma earlier in their lives.