Tiger King 2 headlines Netflix’s new slate of true crime documentaries

Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness

Global streamer Netflix has revealed a slate of five new documentaries, including a sequel to its massively popular Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness docuseries and a pair of commissions for UK-based prodco Raw.

Tiger King 2, produced by A Goode Films Production in association with Library Films and Article 19 Films, is scheduled to premiere before the end of the year, with Eric Goode and Rebecca Chaiklin returning to direct the new project. Goode and Chaiklin are executive producing the second season alongside Chris Smith and Fisher Stevens.

Launched last March, the original docuseries was watched by 64 million households globally, according to Netflix, and became a huge hit as locked-down audiences followed the story of Joe Exotic.

Also on the true crime slate is The Puppet Master: Hunting the Ultimate Conman, produced by London-based Raw (Waco: Madman or Messiah, Homestead Rescue) and set to premiere in January. Directed by Sam Benstead and Gareth Johnson, the three-part series follows an audacious conman convicted in 2005 for stealing fortunes and destroying lives. However, the doc is set in the present day with a desperate family who fear for their mother’s safety. Bart Layton and Rebecca North are executive producers.

Also produced by Raw is The Tinder Swindler, about a group of women who set out to bring down a conman who posed as a billionaire playboy on Tinder. The doc is directed by Felicity Morris and will premiere in February. Executive producers are Bart Layton and Sam Starbuck for Raw, Jeff Gaspin and Eric Levy for Gaspin Media and Stuart Ford and Lourdes Diaz for AGC Studios.

Netflix also commissioned Trust No One: The Hunt for the Crypto King, which follows a group of investors-turned-sleuths as they attempt to figure out the suspicious death of cryptocurrency multimillionaire Gerry Cotten and the missing US$250m they think he stole from them. Produced by London-based prodco Minnow Films (Bad Boy Billionaires), the show is set to land on Netflix in 2022.

Also set to launch on the streamer at some point in 2022 is Bad Vegan, about a celebrity restaurateur, Sarma Melngailis, who is conned out of millions by a man who convinces her that he can expand her food empire.

“As we explore the spectrum of true crime, one particularly riveting area is that of cons, scams and cautionary tales. For example, earlier this year our series Heist revealed how ordinary people almost got away with extraordinary cons, This is a Robbery examined a still-unsolved art theft, and Cocaine Cowboys: Kings of Miami chronicled the rise and fall of drug kingpins,” said Adam Del Deo, VP of documentary series and Lisa Nishimura, VP of independent and documentary film.

“Whether you want to dive into the psyche of a con artist, empathise with the victims of a scam, or piece together the puzzle of an investigation, these wild stories are often full of surprising twists and unusual perspectives.”