Kate McKinnon has scored her second starring role in a series based on a podcast.
McKinnon has signed on to star in and executive produce a series adaptation of the Wondery podcast “Joe Exotic,” which is being developed at Universal Content Productions. It was previously announced that McKinnon would star as disgraced Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes in a series for Hulu, which is based on the ABC Radio and ABC News podcast “The Dropout.”
In “Joe Exotic,” big cat enthusiast Carole Baskin (McKinnon) learns that fellow exotic animal lover, Joe “Exotic” Schreibvogel is breeding and using his big cats for profit. She sets out to shut down his venture, inciting a quickly escalating rivalry. But Carole has a checkered past of her own, and when the claws come out, Joe will stop at nothing to expose her hypocrisy. The results prove deadly.
Wondery’s Hernan Lopez and Marshall Lewy will executive produce along with McKinnon, who is best known for her work as a cast member on “Saturday Night Live.” Her work on the show has won her two Emmy awards for best supporting actress in a comedy, winning in both 2016 and 2017.
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She has taken on a number of projects outside the NBC sketch comedy show, having recently starred in films like “Ghostbusters,” “Masterminds,” “Office Christmas Party,” “Yesterday,” and “The Spy Who Dumped Me.” She will also appear in the upcoming film “Bombshell,” which takes on the story of the women at Fox News who accused Roger Ailes of sexual harassment.
She is repped by UTA, Artists First, and Hansen Jacobson. Wondery is also repped by UTA.
“Joe Exotic” also marks the latest podcast to get the series treatment at UCP. The studio has previously found success with the Gimlet podcast “Homecoming,” which is prepping its second season at Amazon, and “Dirty John,”based on the podcast from Wondery and the LA Times articles of the same name. That show aired its first season on Bravo, with the second set to air on USA Network.
UCP is currently producing a series adaptation of Wondery’s “Dr. Death” for NBCUniversal’s streaming service, Peacock, with Jamie Dornan, Christian Slater, and Alec Baldwin set to star.
