Amazon has greenlit an eight-episode scripted series starring Nicolas Cage as Joe Exotic, the Oklahoma big-cat park owner. It will be the first television role of  Nicolas in his five-decade acting career. The upcoming Tiger King TV series has officially been picked up by Amazon Studios. The series will focus on Joe Exotic as he fights to keep his park - even at the risk of losing his sanity. 

Variety reported that the scripted series about Tiger King star Joe Exotic starring Nicholas Cage is being developed by Amazon Studios. The project was originally in the works with CBS Television Studios and Imagine Television in May, and now Amazon has jumped aboard. The television series is based on the Texas Monthly article “Joe Exotic: A Dark Journey Into the World of a Man Gone Wild,” by Leif Reigstad, and follows a young Joe Exotic, née Joe Shreibvogel, as he risks his own health, both physical and mental, to keep his beloved park open.

Recommended Read: Nicolas Cage to play Joe Exotic in a scripted eight-episode television series based on the Tiger King's life

According to the American magazine, the Nicholas Cage led series “will live in the lion’s den with Joe, explore how he became Joe Exotic, and how he lost himself to a character of his own creation.”

Nicolas' representative had left fans excited as he confirmed his role back in May but declined to go into detail about the show.

(Source: Variety)