Kate McKinnon has signed on to star in and executive produce a television adaptation of Wondery’s “Joe Exotic” podcast that’s currently in the works at Universal Content Productions.
The “Saturday Night Live” star will play a big cat enthusiast named Carole Baskin, who learns that a fellow exotic animal lover, Joe “Exotic” Schreibvogel is breeding and using his big cats for profit. Carole sets out to shut down his venture and incites a quickly escalating rivalry, according to UCP’s description of the potential series. But she has a checkered past of her own, and when the claws come out, Joe will stop at nothing to expose her hypocrisy, and the results prove deadly.
Hernan Lopez and Marshall Lewy of the podcast network Wondery will executive produce the project alongside McKinnon.
UCP previously adapted the Wondery podcast “Dirty John” into a Bravo anthology series starring Connie Britton. The second season, starring Christian Slater and Amanda Peet, is set to air on Bravo’s sister network USA.
The studio is also developing an adaptation of Wondery’s “Dr. Death” for NBCUniversal’s forthcoming streaming service, Peacock, with Jamie Dornan, Christian Slater and Alec Baldwin set to star.
McKinnon and Wondery are both repped by UTA, which brokered the deal on behalf of the podcast network.