It's official! Doco 'Tiger King' is returning to Netflix for season two

In 2020 an unlikely hit series landed on streaming platform, Netflix. It wasn't a drama about royals or a witty comedy, it was a documentary series about an eccentric private zoo owner named Joe Exotic.

Netflix's Tiger King, documented Exotic's unusual life and his battles with foe Carole Baskin, an animal rights campaigner who runs an animal welfare refuge called Big Cat Sanctuary.

What unfolded was a story of big personalities, rivalries and some gorgeous big cats. It was also a true crime story.

The show's star, Joe Exotic - real name Joseph Allen Maldonado-Passage - is currently serving 22 years in jail on two counts of hiring someone to murder Baskin and multiple violations of animal welfare laws, including nine counts of breaking the Endangered Species Act by killing five tigers and for selling tigers across state lines.

Netflix has now confirmed that there will be a second series of the runaway cult hit docuseries. Details have not yet been confirmed as to which, if any, characters from the first series will be returning in season two.

It will be really interesting to see how the show's directors, Eric Goode and Rebecca Chaiklin, approach season two of Tiger King. Exotic is still incarcerated and is said to be battling prostate cancer. Meanwhile Carole Baskin has tried hard to distance herself from the show.

In late 2020, after the show aired Baskin competed on the US version of Dancing with the Stars. At the time she revealed that she had decided to take part in DWTS as she hoped it would let the public get to know the real her, not the villain she was made out to be in Tiger King.

Baskin said: "Tiger King really glamorised animal abusers and villainised me for trying to stop animal abuse, and so I felt really betrayed by that. But what amazed me was how many people believed that false portrayal of me without doing anything to find out who I really am.

"It's been a nightmare since Tiger King aired."

The story of Exotic and Baskin felt very much wrapped up at the end of season one, so it is likely that series two will have an all new story to tell, with a fresh cast of colourful characters. Here's hoping there will still be some big cats. The big cats are key.

This article was first published by the NZ Herald and is republished here with permission.