Tulsa King is an American comedy and crime drama television series created by Taylor Sheridan for the streaming platform Paramount+. The series stars Sylvester Stallone in his first leading role in a scripted television series. Stallone portrays Dwight "the General" Manfredi, an American Mafia caporegime who has been recently released from prison in New York and is sent to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he begins to set up a criminal organization. The series also stars Andrea Savage, Martin Starr, Jay Will, Max Casella, Domenick Lombardozzi, Vincent Piazza, A. C. Peterson, Garrett Hedlund, and Dana Delany. After receiving an early premiere in theaters on October 29, 2022, the series was released on Paramount+ from November 13, 2022, to January 8, 2023. Shortly after premiering, Tulsa King was renewed for a second season, which premiered on September 15, 2024. Terence Winter was the showrunner for the first season, but due to differences with Sheridan, he was demoted to head writer before the second. Director Craig Zisk produced the second season. The first season was largely filmed in Oklahoma City, but primary production on the second season relocated to Atlanta after the cast and crew complained. Annabella Sciorra, Tatiana Zappardino, Frank Grillo, and Neal McDonough joined the second-season main cast. A third and fourth season as well as a spin-off series are both in early stages of development. The series has proved to be a success by providing a television ratings boost during its broadcast on Paramount Network and setting viewership records on Paramount+. Critics have given Tulsa King generally positive reviews. Many have praised Stallone's performance, but some criticized the dialogue and overall story arc. In 2023, Tulsa King was nominated for a Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Award.

Premise

Dwight "The General" Manfredi is the American Mafia capo from New York City who has just finished serving a 25-year prison sentence. Upon release, Dwight's boss sends him to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to establish criminal operations there. Dwight, who does not know anyone in the area, seeks a new crew to help him establish his empire. He first meets taxi driver Tyson Mitchell, whom he recruits as his personal driver, and acquires financing by threatening and later befriending Lawrence "Bodhi" Geigerman, the owner of a local dispensary. While attempting to grow his enterprise, Dwight gains many more associates, including Mitch Keller, who owns a bar Dwight frequents. Dwight initially remains in contact with the syndicate in New York but later begins to despise them. Dwight and his crew become enemies with the outlaw biker gang The Black Macadams. During this time, Dwight experiences personal and family problems as a result of his actions. Stacy Beale, a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE; commonly known as ATF) agent and Dwight's love interest, investigates Dwight's actions and those of his crew.

Cast and characters

= Main

= Sylvester Stallone as Dwight "The General" Manfredi, a capo in the Invernizzi family who is sent to Tulsa after serving 25 years in prison for murder, boss of the Manfredi family in Tulsa Andrea Savage as Stacy Beale, Manfredi's love interest in season 1 and a senior ATF agent. She is transferred to Alaska as punishment for failing to secure a conviction of Dwight in season 2. Martin Starr as Lawrence "Bodhi" Geigerman, a marijuana dealer who Manfredi recruits to help finance his syndicate, associate of the Manfredi family, Even Higher Plane crew Jay Will as Tyson Mitchell, a former taxi driver who becomes Dwight's driver and the first member of the Manfredi syndicate, associate of the Manfredi family, Bred-2-Buck crew Max Casella as Armand "Manny" Truisi, a former Invernizzi soldier who made a new life in Tulsa working at Fennario horse ranch after breaking his vow to the family. He joins Manfredi's crew after unsuccessfully trying to kill him, soldier of the Manfredi family and bookmaker, Bred-2-Buck crew Domenick Lombardozzi (season 1–2) as Don Charles "Chickie" Invernizzi, underboss and later boss of the Invernizzi family Vincent Piazza as Vince Antonacci, Chickie's top capo, and later consigliere of the Invernizzi family A. C. Peterson as Pete "The Rock" Invernizzi (season 1), the ailing boss of the Invernizzi family until he was killed by his own son Chickie. Garrett Hedlund as Mitch "the Stick" Keller, an ex-rodeo star, ex-convict and bar owner who is an associate of the Manfredi syndicate, lieutenant of the Manfredi family, Bred-2-Buck crew Dana Delany as Margaret Devereaux, the owner of Fennario horse ranch. She becomes Dwight's love interest in season 2. Tatiana Zappardino as Tina Manfredi-Grieger (season 2; recurring season 1), a Brooklyn florist and Dwight's estranged daughter Annabella Sciorra as Joanne Manfredi (season 2; recurring season 1), Dwight's younger sister Neal McDonough as Cal Thresher (season 2), corrupt businessman, large producer and distributor of marijuana, an oil tycoon who is an associate with Jackie Ming. Frank Grillo as Bill Bevilaqua (season 2), boss of the Bevilaqua family of Kansas City

= Recurring

= Chris Caldovino as Dennis "Goodie" Carangi, long-time capo and consigliere of the Invernizzi family who joins Manfredi in Tulsa, underboss and consigliere of the Manfredi family in Tulsa Guy Nardulli as Johnny the Zip,capo for the Invernizzi family, Vince's righthand man Ritchie Coster as Caolan Waltrip, the Irish leader of the outlaw biker gang The Black Macadams (season 1) Emily Davis as Rochelle "Roxy" Harrington; Manny's co-worker, a Black Macadams old lady and an informant for Stacy (season 1) Ronnie Gene Blevins as Ben Hutchins Mike Iveson as Paul Cheevers, Dwight's driving instructor Barry Corbin as Babe Michael Beach as Mark Mitchell, Tyson's father Scarlet Rose Stallone as Spencer, a former waitress who Dwight hires to care for his prize horse McKenna Quigley Harrington as Grace, associate of the Manfredi family, Even Higher Plane crew Dashiell Connery as Clint, associate of Manfredi family, Even Higher Plane crew Justin Garcia-Pruneda as Fred, associate of Manfredi family, bodyguard, Even Higher Plane crew Jonathan Joss as "Bad Face", associate of Manfredi family Glen Gould as Jimmy "the Creek", associate of Manfredi family, marijuana producer and distributor, Even Higher Plane crew Robert Walker Branchaud as Carson Pike (Season 1), The Black Macadams gang member Steve Witting as Donnie Shore, a car dealership owner Joseph Riccobene as Jerry Izzo (Season 1–2) capo in the Invernizzi family Patrick Ian Moore as Jack Paradise Rich Ting as Jackie Ming (season 2), a Chinese triad gangster Mike "Ca$h Flo" Walden as Michael "Bigfoot" (season 2), associate, enforcer and bodyguard of Manfredi family and Mitch's cousin, Bred-2-Buck crew

= Notable guests

= Alan Autry as Brian Gillen (season 1), former owner of Fennario Ranch and Margaret Devereaux's ex-husband Josh Fadem as Elliot Evans (season 1) Jelly Roll as himself (season 2), a musician who Dwight mistakes for a security guard and janitor Graham Greene as Old Smoke (season 2)

Episodes

= Series overview

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= Season 1 (2022–2023)

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= Season 2 (2024)

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Production

= Development

= On December 6, 2021, it was reported Taylor Sheridan and Terence Winter were developing a series titled Kansas City for the digital streaming platform Paramount+. The series was created by Sheridan, who had signed a multi-year contract with ViacomCBS to create new series during the COVID-19 pandemic. The series would be centered around Sal, an Italian-American mobster from New York City who is tasked with returning the mafia to Kansas City, Missouri. Sheridan, Winter and series-star Sylvester Stallone were announced as executive producers alongside Braden Aftergood from Stallone's banner Balboa Productions; and David C. Glasser, Ron Burkle and Bob Yari from the production company 101 Studios. Winter was also the series' showrunner, which MTV Entertainment Studios produced. Sheridan wrote the pilot episode in a week. Winter moved the show's setting to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to give the characters a more-remote setting. In 2022, Deadline Hollywood stated the show was given a straight-to-series order under the title Tulsa King to reflect the change in location. Stallone involved himself in several aspects of the production. Winter noted: "With Stallone, you're getting a writer, a director, a producer, an editor"; and Glasser said Stallone was "heavily involved in the editing process". On November 30, 2022, Tulsa King was renewed for a second season. The following February, it was announced Winter had resigned as showrunner due to "creative differences"; a new showrunner was sought but Winter would remain as an executive producer of the show. It was later revealed Sheridan had dismissed Winter because of differences in writing style; Sheridan stated he preferred character-driven plots whereas Winter preferred plot-driven characters. In February 2024, Winter was re-hired as a writer after an opening in his schedule due to delays caused by the 2023 Writers' Guild of America strike. In his modified position, Winter is the series' head writer and works outside Sheridan's direct supervision. Sheridan chose not to use a conventional showrunner for the second season and instead decided to hire a director and executive producer to oversee day-to-day production. It was announced Craig Zisk would fill this role. Winter confirmed in September 2024 that a spin-off series set in New Orleans was in the early stages of development. The following November it was reported that Tulsa King is on track to secure a third and fourth season renewal. On December 6, 2024, Winter would again resign from the series as head writer in order to work on the untitled Sammy the Bull series for FX.

= Casting

= At the time the series was announced, Sylvester Stallone was participating in negotiations to star as Tulsa King's lead character Sal in his scripted television debut. Stallone's character was later renamed Dwight "The General" Manfredi. Stallone stated filming television was more difficult and time-consuming than the films in which he had starred. On March 24, 2022, Max Casella, Domenick Lombardozzi, Vincent Piazza and Jay Will were added to the cast; Casella, Lombardozzi and Piazza portray members of the Invernizzi family crime syndicate while Will stars as a recent college graduate who becomes a member of Dwight's crew. In May, A. C. Peterson, Andrea Savage, Garrett Hedlund and Martin Starr were reported to be starring in the series; they were followed in July by Dana Delany and Annabella Sciorra in August. Miles Mussenden also stars in the series. Stallone's daughter Scarlet appears in the series as Spencer, a barista and stable hand who is recruited to work with Dwight. Scarlet was originally considered for the role of Stallone's on-screen daughter but was considered too young for the role, which instead went to Tatiana Zappardino. Additional casting for minor characters and background actors occurred in May 2022. Before production of the second season, Sciorra and Zappardino were promoted to the main cast. Frank Grillo also joined the main cast, starring as Bill Bevilaqua, a mobster from Kansas City. On May 1, 2024, it was reported Neal McDonough would appear as Cal Thresher. Two days later, Rich Ting was cast in the recurring role of Jackie Ming. Jelly Roll, an American singer, songwriter, and rapper, made a cameo appearance as himself. He said he had been a fan of the series and is friends with Sistine, another daughter of Stallone's, who made the necessary connections. Casting for additional extras in the second season occurred in June 2024. During filming for the second season, Stallone and an unnamed director were accused of making disparaging remarks about background extras. Stallone was allegedly heard calling certain background actors "ugly", "tub of lard" and "fat guy with a cane". Stallone also suggested the production should instead cast "pretty young girls to be around me". The Atlanta-based casting agency Rose Locke & CL Casting, which had been responsible for hiring extras, resigned from the production soon after. Zisk responded to the comments through TMZ by denying the statements were made and stating the casting agency had hired extras who were older than the requested age range. CNN reported Paramount was investigating the allegations and that no formal complaints had been filed. The actors' labor union SAG-AFTRA also responded to the allegations, saying its scope does not include background actors in Atlanta but that it would provide any requested guidance; it also issued a statement condemning such comments toward any actor. Thomas Mooneyham, a background actor on the series, stated he believed the comments were about him after he and another extra were replaced with younger people. Stallone did not respond to the allegations. In November 2024, Stallone was in the process of signing a contract to star in a third and fourth seasons of the program. If signed, he would reportedly receive a raise after making $750,000 and $1,000,000 per episode in the first two seasons, respectively.

= Production design

= The series' costume designer Suzanne McCabe based many outfits on the Gambino crime family and Franzese Crew, as well as photographs from newspaper clippings in the 1980s; she cited John Gotti as an inspiration. McCabe also stated she tried to mostly use monochromatic colors for the show's costumes, using dark colors for the New York City-filmed scenes and softer colors for scenes in Oklahoma to represent that state's red soil. Sylvester Stallone was allowed to pick many elements of his own costumes, including bolo ties, jewelry and shoes. Production designer Todd Jeffery used a mix of soundstages and on-location filming for Tulsa King. The sets for "The Higher Plane" dispensary featured in the series was created in a former Texaco gas station. Mirrors were used in a scene that was filmed in a strip club to make the space appear larger. Location manager Patrick Mignanom was tasked with finding a dilapidated structure whose owner would be content with having it blown up. Saunder Jurriaans and Danny Bensi composed Tulsa King's theme song.

= Filming

= Principal photography occurred over six months in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and Bethany, concluding on August 31, 2022. Some filming occurred at Tulsa International Airport on March 29, 2022. Additional locations used in Tulsa include Center of the Universe and the Mayo Hotel. Other scenes were filmed on-location in Brooklyn, New York. The series interior scenes and production offices were housed at Prairie Surf Studios. Additional photography wrapped by October. Filming in Oklahoma boosted the state's economy by an estimated $56 million. It was later reported the show's second season would not be filmed in Oklahoma due to costs, and complaints from the cast and crew, who did not like the extreme temperatures there. Filming on the second season occurred in the Atlanta, Georgia, suburb Norcross, using Eagle Rock Studios for sound stages. Filming began on April 1, 2024, and was scheduled to run until July 31. Some filming also took place in Gainesville, Georgia. Jelly Roll's scenes were filmed in April while he was touring for his latest studio album Beautifully Broken and was in the area. Stallone improvised lines for this scene which featured Jelly Roll performing a rendition of his song "I Am Not Okay". A second unit filmed b-roll scenes in Tulsa in mid-June 2024. Filming for the second season wrapped on August 2.

Release

The series premiere episode of Tulsa King received an early promotional screening with the fifth-season premiere of Yellowstone in AMC Theatres on October 29–30, 2022. Tulsa King began its weekly release schedule on Paramount+ beginning on November 13. The series' first two episodes were broadcast on Paramount Network on November 20 and 27, serving as a lead-out for episodes of Yellowstone. The first season concluded on January 8, 2023. In Japan, the series was launched in a Paramount+ hub on the streaming service Wowow. The first season received another linear broadcast, this time on CBS, with episodes being broadcast weekly from July 14–September 8, 2024. The second season premiered in the United States and Canada on September 15, and internationally on September 16.

= Home media

= The first season received a home-media release on DVD and Blu-ray on June 6, 2023; an alternative SteelBook Blu-ray release accompanied the main release.

Reception

= Viewing figures

= On Paramount+, Tulsa King's first season was Taylor Sheridan's fourth-most-watched series with 3.36 billion minutes viewed. In its first broadcast on Paramount Network, the series brought in 3.7 million viewers, exceeding the Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon as "cable's highest-rated series debut" of 2022. It is also credited with the "biggest new sign-up day in [Paramount+] history". The first season broadcast on CBS averaged 3.17 million viewers. The second-season premiere on Paramount+ was seen by two million people within 24 hours, with the number rising to 5.4 million households within its first seven days. This also set a new record on the streaming service for largest number of viewers on a series' premiere day. Social media engagements for season two also rose 943% when compared to that from the first season. Tulsa King was ranked tenth on The Wrap's "list of titles consumers are most excited about" for the week of September 22, 2024. Within 35 days of the second-season premiere, 10 million households had seen Tulsa King, beating the 9.5 million that viewed season one within the same time period by 8%. By this time the series had eight times higher engagement and 17 times higher views than season one on social media platforms.

= Critical response

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Season 1

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 79% of 47 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.6/10. The website's consensus reads: "Tulsa King's stale comedy sometimes feels like ordering spaghetti with marinara and instead getting egg noodles and ketchup, but Sylvester Stallone still commands the screen with his swaggering charm." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 65 out of 100, based on 28 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Darren Franich of Entertainment Weekly described the series as "Grumpy Old Grand Theft Auto". CNN Entertainment's Brian Lowery described the series as an "odd mix of attributes" but praised the series' use of time. Reviewing for The Guardian, Lucy Mangan praised the comedy aspect of the series but failed to see it innovating further. Los Angeles Times writer Robert Lloyd called the series "likeable", commending its use of comedy and character focus. Tulsa King was often compared poorly to Winter's and Sheridan's other series; Sheridan was overseeing eight other series at the time Tulsa King debuted. The Hollywood Reporter's Daniel Fienberg wrote Sheridan's and Winter's main strength is not in comedy writing, despite the series being primarily marketed as a comedy. Fienberg goes on to state: "the first two episodes definitely give the impression of being something that Sheridan, Paramount+'s golden goose at this point, gestated between work on 15 different Yellowstone sequels and prequels". According to Anita Singh of The Daily Telegraph: "One of the writers, Terence Winter, has The Sopranos and Boardwalk Empire on his CV, but this show is to The Sopranos what Paw Patrol is to the works of David Attenborough". Writing for the National Public Radio (NPR) talk show Fresh Air, David Bianculli compared the formula of Tulsa King to that of Yellowstone and noted the "sense of time passing and the importance of family". Stephan Lee with The Wrap said there is a "distinct straight-to-DVD quality to Tulsa King" but suggests the series stands on its own and is only poor when compared to Sheridan's and Winter's other works. Ben Travers of IndieWire described Tulsa King as "less serious" and a "breath of fresh air" compared to the seriousness and consequences in Sheridan's other series. Stallone's acting received the highest praise from critics, although some criticized it for its lack of originality. Reviewing the first two episodes for Variety, Joshua Alston credited most of the series' success to Stallone, stating: "Tulsa King isn't a great show with him, but it would be far less interesting without him". Richard Roeper, writing for the Chicago Sun-Times, said the series was written to Stallone's strengths. The A.V. Club's Todd Lazarski also praised Stallone's acting but described the series as an "undercooked fish-out-of-water mob story". USA Today writer Kelly Lawler criticized both the overall concept and Stallone saying he is "probably the King of something, but it's certainly not Tulsa, Oklahoma", and called the show "bad Goodfellas fan fiction".

Season 2

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 100% of 5 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.8/10. Jeff Ewing with Collider wrote that the second season "introduced new threats, but struggles to find its tone", feeling that it started off with too many filler episodes before building exposition in the later episodes. Decider's Joek Keller stated that Tulsa King "has become less of a fish out of water story and more of a story about just what kind of absurd scheme Dwight and his motley crew can pull off". He further elaborated by saying that the first episode addressed too many storylines at one time and believing that it is becoming more focused on comedy than crime. The Quapaw Nation issued a statement during the broadcast of Tulsa King's second season, criticizing its portrayal of fictional tribal leaders in criminal conspiracies. They stated that production members did not give the tribe the chance to review the potential use of a fictionalized portrayal of themselves and that it "constituted cultural appropriation".

= Awards and nominations

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Notes

References

External links

Official website Tulsa King at IMDb