TV

William Fichtner replaces Dennis Quaid as Rick Kirkham in 'Joe Exotic'

By Wade Sheridan   |   July 1, 2021 at 2:40 PM
William Fichtner is starring in Peacock's "Joe Exotic" series as Rick Kirkham, a role previously held by Dennis Quaid. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI William Fichtner (L) and his wife, Kymberly Kalil, attend the premiere of "Elysium" in August 2013. File photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI William Fichtner (L) and his wife, Kimberly Kalil, attend the premiere of "Phantom" in February 2013. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI Dennis Quaid attends the premiere of "A Dog's Journey" in May 2019. File Photo by Chris Chew/UPI Dennis Quaid arrives for the iHeartRadio Music Festival in September 2019. File Photo by James Atoa/UPI

July 1 (UPI) -- William Fichtner is replacing Dennis Quaid as Rick Kirkham in Peacock's upcoming scripted limited series, Joe Exotic.

Quaid dropped out of the project due to a scheduling conflict.

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The series, from showrunner Ethan Frankel and Universal Content Productions, is based on Season 2 of the Wondery podcast Over My Dead Body from Robert Moor, which followed Joe 'Exotic' Maldonado.

Maldonado and his rival Carole Baskin entered the limelight after appearing in Netflix's popular Tiger King documentary series. Maldonado was an exotic animal lover who bred and used big cats for profit. Baskin, a big cat enthusiast, tried to shut him down.

Kirkham was Maldonado's reality show producer.

Fichtner joins a cast that includes John Cameron Mitchell as Maldonado, Kate McKinnon as Baskin, Brian Van Holt as John Reinke, Nat Wolff as Travis Maldonado, Sam Keeley as John Finlay, Lex Mayson as Saff, Dean Winters as Jeff Lowe and John Marsh Garland as James Garretson.