Goode's 'Monsters of God' Reptile Doc Premieres on HBO — SkimNews
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- HBO debuted the five-part docuseries "Monsters of God" from Tiger King co-director Eric Goode, profiling reptile dealers Tom Crutchfield, Hank Molt, and Malaysian "exporter" Anson Wong — with HBO calling the trade a "billion-dollar criminal enterprise."
- Goode told the post-screening Q&A at Vidiots in Los Angeles that the series is "nuanced" and not painting anyone with "one brush," arguing that law enforcement, zoos (which paid dealers knowing they broke the law), and "we're all complicit" — a different framing than his prior Tiger King and 2024's Chimp Crazy.
- Bryan Christy, author of the 2008 book "The Lizard King" that inspired the series, appears as a consulting producer and praised Goode for persuading wary reptile importers to appear on camera.
- Mike Van Nostrand, convicted in 2022 for smuggling "illegally-harvested Florida turtles out of the United States and into China, Japan, and other places," appeared on the Q&A panel and said of Tiger King: "I didn't like it. Eric was a little tricky one."
- Crutchfield, another featured dealer who served time, told the panel he wanted viewers to see his "great passion and my great love, and more importantly, my great respect for all of these monsters of God" — prompting Van Nostrand to ask sardonically, "Are you saying money had nothing to do with it?"
- Actor Jason Segel moderated the Q&A and compared the series to Goodfellas and Scarface, saying he "watched every episode over two days and was mesmerized," while fresh episodes continue rolling out Thursdays on HBO and streaming on HBO Max.
Why it matters: The series deliberately complicates the monster-vs-hero narrative that made Tiger King a hit, giving airtime to convicted smugglers who push back on Goode's framing. That's a gamble for HBO: viewers who came for spectacle may get a slower, more morally ambiguous story about how zoos, law enforcement, and dealers share blame in the reptile trade.
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