Netflix says Tiger King 2 is ‘coming soon’

The docuseries, which became a cultural touchstone during Covid lockdown, showcases eccentric tiger owners

It’s been 18 months since Tiger King exploded onto Netflix and captivated a pandemic-lockdown world with the crazy tales of Joe Exotic, Carole Baskin and their respective tiger centers – and now the streaming service has announced that Tiger King 2 is ‘coming soon.’

While Netflix hasn’t sent out an official press release or offered details of when viewers might be able to see the next instalment of the big cat-obsessed cast of characters, its ‘coming soon’ teaser is usually advertised two to three months before new programmes come out.

The original, seven-part documentary first aired on March 20, 2020 – smack in the middle of coronavirus panic and a near-global lockdown. It offered bored and worried subscribers the chance to look inside the wild life of a man named Joseph Allen Maldonado-Passage, known as Joe Exotic, who owned a big cat attraction in Oklahoma and had spent most of his adult life raising tigers.

On top of that, he had a complicated love life, political ambitions and ongoing feuds, particularly with a Florida big cat owner and activist, Carole Baskin.

The documentary revealed increasingly bizarre levels of the characters’ lives, touching on everything from love triangles to murder plots, leaving unanswered questions and a pop culture frenzy. Tiger King commentary and theorising effectively took over social media, with many viewers divided into Team Carole or Team Joe Exotic.

In what should be a spoiler to no one at this point, Joe Exotic ended up in prison, where he remains – and it’s unclear how he’ll factor into the upcoming sequel.

Rebecca Chaiklin, who directed the original with Eric Goode, had already seemed to be pondering a Tiger King 2 last year in an interview with EW.

“We have a crazy amount of footage and it’s a story that’s still unfolding,” she said. “We’re not sure yet, but there could be a follow-up on this story because there’s a lot that’s still unfolding in it, and it’ll be just as dramatic and just as colorful as what has unfolded these past few years.”

Joe Exotic, who owned Greater Wynnewood Animal Park, was convicted in 2019 on two murder-for-hire and several wildlife charges and sentenced to 22 years in prison - but an Oklahoma appeals court last month found that the district court had made an “error in interpreting the guidelines” and ordered resentencing.

The intended target of the alleged plot was his nemesis, Ms Baskin, an outspoken Joe Exotic critic who owns Big Cat Rescue near Tampa, Florida.

She has also been extremely critical of the Netflix series, writing online after its 2020 release that the filmmakers “did not care about the truth. The unsavoury lies are better for getting viewers.”