Given Tiger King‘s enormous popularity and the short-lived nature of Netflix’s “Most Popular” feature, the big-cat documentary series can already claim a record for holding the top spot for the longest time. What a strange time we’re living in, for multiple reasons, but Joe Exotic fans can at least take comfort in news that a spinoff series about the cold case of Carole Baskin’s missing husband (Don Lewis) is in the works. So maybe a decades-old mystery shall finally be solved, and one certainly can’t expect Baskin to be thrilled about that one, but she’s also resisting something closer on the horizon for what’s now a burgeoning franchise.
As previously reported, featured player Jeff Lowe has claimed that a new episode for the main series, an apparent reunion installment, is on the way, although that sounds sketchy, at best. At least, the timing sounds off. Not much in the way of a production can go down during a pandemic due to social distancing, but Lowe seemed pretty insistent in his claims. Well, Baskin’s team has now weighed in with Entertainment Weekly to shut down any hopes that she might join the party. As her rep stated, “We have not been approached about a new episode and would not participate if asked.”
Word on the “reunion” aspect comes courtesy of Joe Exotic’s husband, Dillon Passage, who said that he wasn’t invited either, but he did know some insider information. Here’s what he told Andy Cohen:
“It’s going to be like a live-based episode, I believe. Kind of like a reunion. But no, Netflix did not contact me to be a part of that. I’m not sure completely on the details. I only spoke with one of the producers a little while about it because I was asking her. I saw an article saying there was gonna be another episode dropped and I was kind of curious.”
So, the reunion episode is happening? Well, it sounds like this might be legit, and I have little doubt that it will happen eventually, but a fast turnaround just isn’t realistic right now for any sort of production, whether that’s big-budget Hollywood stuff or someone pointing an iPhone at Jeff Lowe for a big-cat reunion party. The mystery shall remain for now, until we see that alleged reunion episode land on the Netflix Most Popular list, five seconds after release.