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Tulsa King is an American crime drama television series created by Taylor Sheridan for the Streaming media platform Paramount+. The series stars Sylvester Stallone as 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. It is Stallone's first leading role in a scripted television series.
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 and concluded on November 17.
Terence Winter was the showrunner for the first season, but due to differences with Sheridan, he was demoted to head writer before the second, while director Craig Zisk produced the second season. Dave Erickson took over as showrunner for the third 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. Paramount later confirmed the third season renewal by announcing the start of production. A fourth season as well as a spin-off series called NOLA King which will star Samuel L. Jackson, have both been ordered. The third season premiered on September 21, 2025.
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.
| + ! rowspan="2" scope="col" style="width:20%;" | Actor ! rowspan="2" scope="col" style="width:20%;" | Character ! scope="col" colspan="3" | Seasons | |
| Sylvester Stallone | Dwight Manfredi | colspan="3" | ||
| Andrea Savage | Stacy Beale | colspan="2" | ||
| Martin Starr | Lawrence "Bodhi" Geigerman | colspan="3" | ||
| Jay Will | Tyson Mitchell | colspan="3" | ||
| Max Casella | Armand "Manny" Truisi | colspan="2" | ||
| Domenick Lombardozzi | Chickie Invernizzi | colspan="2" | ||
| Vincent Piazza | Vince Antonacci | colspan="3" | ||
| A.C. Peterson | Pete Invernizzi | colspan="2" | ||
| Garrett Hedlund | Mitch Keller | colspan="3" | ||
| Dana Delany | Margaret Deveraux | colspan="3" | ||
| Tatiana Zapperdino | Tina Manfredi-Grieger | |||
| Annabella Sciorra | Joanne Manfredi | colspan="2" | ||
| Neal McDonough | Cal Thresher | colspan="2" | ||
| Frank Grillo | Bill Bevilaqua | colspan="2" | ||
| Chris Caldovino | Goodie Carangi | colspan="2" | ||
| McKenna Quigley Harrington | Grace | colspan="2" | ||
| Mike "Ca$h Flo" Walden | Bigfoot | |||
| Beau Knapp | Cole Dunmire | colspan="2" | ||
| Robert Patrick | Jeremiah Dunmire | colspan="2" | ||
| Bella Heathcote | Cleo Montague | colspan="2" | ||
| Kevin Pollak | John Musso | colspan="2" |
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.
In November 2024, it announced that Tulsa King was on track to secure a third and fourth season renewal. Winter once again resigned from the series in order to work on the untitled Sammy Gravano series for FX. A third season was officially confirmed in March 2025. At this time, it was reported that Dave Erickson would fill the position of a traditional showrunner, with Zisk's status unknown. By August 2025, during the production of the third season, Paramount Television Studios had taken over production of the series following the merger of MTV Entertainment Studios' parent company Paramount Global with Skydance Media into Paramount Skydance.
Ahead of the season three premiere a fourth season was ordered; it was also said that if the program continued to be successful, it could run for a total of six seasons. Erickson departed the show before the season four entered production, stating that it was due to obligations on Mayor of Kingstown, another series by Sheridan, and that Winter would once again return in a head writer capacity. A later report indicated that Stallone and Erickson disagreed with each other on the creative direction of the show, and that Stallone personally requested that Winter return. As before, a showrunner was not hired with on-set oversight handled by Scott Stone, the executive in charge of production at 101 Studios, working with two unit production managers. Winter meanwhile, lead the writers' room from Los Angeles, and specifically had minimal on-set obligations worked into his contract. Crew members noted that a while studios are sometimes actively involved in production, that an executive having Stone's level of control on one of its series was unusual in the television industry.
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 Stallone, 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 Global 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, one of which being Frank Cioppettini. Stallone did not respond to the allegations.
Stallone signed a contract in November 2024 to star in a third and fourth season of the program. With this, he reportedly received a raise after making and per episode in the first two seasons, respectively. Chris Caldovino, McKenna Quigley Harrington, and Mike "Cash Flo" Walden were promoted to the main cast for season three. Robert Patrick and Beau Knapp also joined the show as series regulars to portray Jerimiah and Cole Dunmire, a father-son pair with influence in the alcohol industry. Additional performers joining the program in the same capacity included Kevin Pollak as FBI Special Agent Musso and Bella Heathcote appearing as Cleo Montague. James Russo was cast in a recurring role to play "Quiet" Ray Renzetti, a New York mob boss.
By September 2025 further negotiations with Stallone were underway to extend his contract through a potential sixth season. Gretchen Mol joined cast as a new series regular for the fourth season.
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.
Filming for the third season began in March 2025, with production taking place in Atlanta and Oklahoma. The first episode was directed by Jim McKay. Filming wrapped on July 2, 2025.
Shortly before filming for the fourth season began, 26 crew members were abruptly fired. Among these were stunt coordinator Freddie Poole, who was also Stallone's stunt double, and had been for the fourteen years prior. He was instead offered a role as Stallone's photo double, but turned it down. Another person stated that they only found out they would not be returning when they became aware that a job listing had been posted for the position they still believed they held, and that their replacement would be paid more a day than they had previously been compensated. Some of those fired had been also instructed to leave their equipment on-set after production on season three had concluded, and then were only informed of the decision a week prior just a few days before production began. Filming ultimately began on November 4, 2025.
Darren Franich of Entertainment Weekly described the series as "Grumpy Old Grand Theft Auto". CNN Entertainments 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 Reporters 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. Clubs 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".
Deciders 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. Writing for EscribiendoCine, Emiliano Basile praised Stallone's acting, writing that he "gives his character the characteristic charisma and powerful phrases that have accompanied him since Rocky." Basile also applauded the series costume design, and highlighted Sheridan's views on cultural views in the United States.
The Quapaw Nation issued a statement during the broadcast of Tulsa Kings second season, criticizing its portrayal of fictional 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". In a follow-up statement, they later declared that a "positive resolution" had been reached with Paramount.
| | rowspan="3" 2023 | Critics' Choice Super Awards (3rd) | Best Action Series, Limited Series or Made-for-TV Movie | Tulsa King | ||
| Best Actor in an Action Series, Limited Series or Made-for-TV Movie | Sylvester Stallone | ||||
| Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards (75th) | Outstanding Stunt Coordination for a Comedy Series or a Variety Program | Freddie Poole | |||
| | rowspan="2" 2024 | Astra Television Awards (3rd) | Best Streaming Comedy Series | Tulsa King | ||
| Best Actor in a Streaming Comedy Series | Sylvester Stallone | ||||
| | rowspan="2" 2025 | Saturn Awards (52nd) | Best Action-Thriller Television Series | Tulsa King | ||
| Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards (77th) | Outstanding Stunt Coordination for a Comedy Series or a Variety Program | Freddie Poole |
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