Surprise news for Tiger King fans: New episode on Netflix 'next week'

A new episode of the popular Netflix series Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness is set to be released next week.

The news was shared by Justin Turner, an American professional baseball player and huge Tiger King fan, who tweeted a video featuring one of the colourful cast of the hit show, zoo owner Jeff Lowe.

The New York Post explains the pair connected after Turner discussed the Tiger King series while appearing on his wife Kourtney Turner's podcast Holding Kourt.

So our friend @christie_dish listened to the podcast, @HoldingKourt and after last weeks episode decided to send us this!!!

🚨BREAKING NEWS FOLKS🚨

There will be 1 more episode of #TigerKing on@Netflix pic.twitter.com/YeRSIlDKTJ

— Justin Turner (@redturn2) April 4, 2020

"Hey Kourtney and Justin, this is Jeff and Lauren from the Tiger King show on Netflix. Thanks for watching our show," Lowe said in the video.

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

Lowe signs off by sharing some timely advice to stay healthy during the current Covid-19 pandemic, telling Turner to "stay safe, and put your mask on".

Joseph Maldonado-Passage, also known as Joe Exotic. Photo / Supplied.

Audiences have been raving about the true crime series since it debuted on March 20.

Exotic animals, criminal plots and very bad mullets – Netflix's new docuseries hooks you in from its first few bizarre minutes.

The seven-part doco begins with a grim statistic: There are more tigers sitting in cages across the USA than there are left in the wild.

From there, Tiger King takes viewers inside the fierce rivalries that exist among the underworld of big cat dealers across the US. These deeply eccentric people trade and breed lions, tigers and other big cats, keeping them in their own private zoos and often exploiting them for profit.

Carole Baskin, founder of Big Cat Rescue. Photo / Supplied.

Star of the show is Joe Exotic, a flamboyantly gay redneck Southerner who runs his own private zoo, filled with exotic big cats – and staffed by down-on-their-luck keepers.

When he's not tending to his cats, Joe is fuming over and plotting against his mortal enemy, Carole Baskin, another big cat keeper who insists that her private collection is a sanctuary for rescued big cats.

Many viewers have already devoured the whole series but such is the public's appetite for all things Tiger King, word of the coming arrival of a new episode will excite fans the world over.

- with New York Post and New.com.au