2021’s Chaos Continues: ‘Tiger King’ Season 2 Is On Its Way
The first installment of Tiger King hit our screens at exactly the right time. COVID-19 was wreaking havoc across the globe, forcing us all to adjust to a new stay-at-home lifestyle. Tiger King was the great unifier. There we were, experiencing the devastation of a global pandemic, while somehow simultaneously obsessing over the unhinged battle between Joe Exotic and Carole Baskin.
Tiger King was the chaotic, larger-than-life drama we needed, each episode helping the passage of time in lockdown tick right on by. In fact, the show attracted 64 million households in its first four weeks of existence.
It’s now 2021. The pandemic rages on, and once again, Joe Exotic and co. are back to help us get through our gloomy lockdown days.
That’s right: Netflix has now officially confirmed that a season 2 of Tiger King will be hitting our screens before the end of the year. Holy shit.
Even better news: Netflix also announced a whole host of upcoming true crime shows for us to sink our teeth into. In the flashy announcement, set in the ‘house of true crime’ (..ok?) Netflix teased the upcoming shows and documentaries about cryptocurrency, conmen, Tinder swindling, and of course, Tiger King 2. Sign me UP.
No release date for Tiger King 2 has been confirmed, and we don’t have much information about what the series will entail, either. But if the continued real-world antics of Joe Exotic are anything to go by, the show is promising to be just as chaotic as the first series.
Since the show ended, the shenanigans around Carole Baskins and Joe Exotic have continued – including a feud with Cardi B (for some reason), and old rumours of a presidential pardon from Donald Trump.
The cat queen herself, Carole Baskin, spoke to Variety this week to let her disgruntled feelings about the series be known.
She spoke about the intense amount of hate she received after season 1 aired, saying her phone was “ringing off the hook for three months straight” with people making death threats.
“I wouldn’t call [Tiger King creators] Eric Goode or Rebecca Chaiklin true documentarians,” she said. “I mean that was just a reality show dumpster fire.” Ouch.
In terms of a second season, Baskin will be tuning in, but remains skeptical that the series will portray her accurately. “Whatever Tiger King 2 does,” she said, “I’ll have that same reaction from the public that has been misled. I’ll have to spend a lot of time explaining to them how they have been misled, which means I have to watch it.”
Rumours about a second season have been around since Tiger King first aired, with co-director Rebecca Chaiklin telling EW in March 2020 that they had a “crazy amount of footage”. “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,” she said. Goodness me.
Alright all you cool cats and kittens, I’ll keep you posted on more chaotic updates when we have them.
Words by Dani Leever, a writer and homosexual pop culture enthusiast. Find their words at @danileever or catch their gay DJ drag adventures at @djgaydad.
