Highly anticipated documentary sequel 'Tiger King 2' is out on Netflix today

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.

Now the story continues with Tiger King 2, which is out on the streaming service today, November 17.

Joe Exotic is currently serving a 22 year prison sentence for conspiring to kill his zoo rival, Carole Baskin, and for several counts of animal cruelty. Photo / Supplied

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.

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 fact, recently she tried to sue Netflix over Tiger King 2.

The Big Cat Rescue boss and her husband, Howard Baskin, submitted a complaint to federal court on aiming to stop the streaming service and directors Rebecca Chaiklin and Eric Goode's company Royal Good Productions from launching their five-episode sequel on 17 November.

The couple have argued the filmmakers have no right to use any footage left over from 2020's Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness under the deals they signed in 2016 and 2018 and they will be caused "irreparable injury" if it is broadcast.

Carole Baskin founder of Big Cat Rescue featured heavily in season 1 of Tiger King, after the series aired she was angry about being portrayed as a villain. Photo / Supplied

Carol has been vocal in the past about her unhappiness at the way she was depicted on the show, in particular the scrutiny over her missing first husband, Don Lewis, and insisted she had expected the programme to focus on her animal rescue efforts.

The case has now been referred for a further hearing.

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.

Tiger King 2 is out on Netflix today, November 17.

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

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