Roy Horn of the legendary magician duo Siegfried & Roy died a few days ago due to COVID-19. The pair were famous for their Las Vegas act which often included the use of white tigers and lions, until Roy was mauled by a tiger in 2003. With Roy’s passing, it’s expected that many specials will run focused on them, but would anybody expect it to be in an episode of Tiger King? Probably not.
THR has learned from an unexpected source that a new episode of Tiger King is in the works at Netflix. But instead of continuing the bonkers story of Joe Exotic and Carole Baskin, this one will be a spinoff of sorts, centering on Siegfried & Roy and the 2003 tiger attack which ended their act and left Roy partially paralyzed…
Dr. James Liu, a wildlife veterinarian and field biologist who is the associate director of the Turtle Conservancy, contacted The Hollywood Reporter on Thursday, requesting contact information for Chris Lawrence, a former tiger handler for Siegfried & Roy’s Las Vegas show. Lawrence received national media attention in March 2019 when he was profiled in THR about his 15-year battle with PTSD following the infamous attack, which left Roy Horn permanently injured. (The handler, who was onstage during the mauling, disputed what he termed the pair’s “romanticized” narrative of what had occurred, detailing a mix of Horn’s own operational failures and errors as the culprit.)
Liu said the show he’s doing would be “a follow-up episode, under the Tiger King name” that he hopes will help change some of the criticisms of the original show’s tone. Maybe Liu doesn’t get it, but the show’s producers certainly do, that the tone is part of its appeal. Producers rejected any notion they’ll be pursuing a more “conservative” route for the episode.
