Netflix confirms new 'Tiger King' episode; here's when it will air

The bonus episode will be a one-off follow-up and catch up with some of the people featured on the docu-series

Joseph Maldonado-Passage, also known as Joe Exotic, poses with one of his tigers. AFP / Netflix

After speculation Netflix had one more Tiger King episode up their sleeve, the streaming platform confirmed the news on Thursday.

The bonus episode titled The Tiger King and I will air on Sunday, April 12.

It will be a reunion episode hosted by Joel McHale and features John Finlay, John Reinke, Rick Kirkman and Jeff and Lauren Lowe to name some of the people on the show who will be updating viewers on what their lives have been like since the release of the popular docu-series.

"I talk to a lot of people involved in the project," McHale says in the video. "To see what's happened in their lives since the release of the series. It's eye-opening and, hopefully, funny."

Speculation about a new episode came to be last week after Lowe seemingly broke the news via a Twitter video.

Appearing in a video created for Los Angeles Dodgers player Justin Turner and his wife Kourtney Pogue via Cameo, a website through which people request videos of celebrities, Lowe claimed Netflix was filming new material for a follow-up episode.

"Hey, Kourtney and Justin, this is Jeff Lowe from the Tiger King show on Netflix," he says in the 26-second clip. "Thank you for watching the show."

He proceeds to tease the couple by saying: "Yeah, you need a life. You just wasted seven hours on us. Take care guys, we love you. "

Before ending his video, he seemed to let the cat out of the bag.

"Netflix is adding one more episode ... will be on next week, " he revealed. "We're filming here tomorrow."

The show has reached cult-like status and tells the story of the rivalry between private zoo owner Joe Exotic and Big Cat Rescue founder Carole Baskin. It features Lowe and fellow animal breeder Doc Antle, all of whom have become household names.

Tiger King landed on Netflix on March 20 and has been the platform's most-watched show for the past two weeks.

But the successful show hasn't been without controversy.

Baskin, who runs the Big Cat Rescue sanctuary in Florida, wrote a long open letter criticising the way she is represented.

"The series presents this without any regard for the truth or in most cases even giving me an opportunity before publication to rebut the absurd claims," she says in the letter. "They did not care about truth. The unsavoury lies are better for getting viewers."

The Tiger King and I will air on Sunday, April 12 on Netflix