Tulsa King

Tulsa King is an American comedy and crime-drama television series that was created by Taylor Sheridan for the online video-streaming platform Paramount+. The series stars Sylvester Stallone in his first leading role in a scripted television series. Stallone portrays Dwight "The General" Manfredi, a Mafia capo who has been recently released from prison 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 to January 8, 2023. Shortly after premiering, Tulsa King was renewed for a second season, which is due to begin releasing on September 15, 2024.

Terence Winter was the showrunner for the first season but due to "creative differences", 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 are set to join the second-season cast. The series provided a television ratings boost during its broadcast on Paramount Network, and a subscription boost on Paramount+. Critics gave Tulsa King generally positive reviews; many praised Stallone's performance but some critics 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 a 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. Dwinght, who does not know anyone in the area, seeks a new crew to help him establish his empire. He first meets Tyson Mitchell, whom he recruits as his 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 AFT) agent and Dwight's love interest, investigates Dwight's actions and those of his crew.

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.
 * Andrea Savage as Stacy Beale, Manfredi's love interest and a senior ATF agent
 * Martin Starr as Lawrence "Bodhi" Geigerman, a marijuana dealer who Manfredi recruits to help finance his syndicate
 * Jay Will as Tyson Mitchell, a former taxi driver who becomes Dwight's driver and the first member of the Manfredi syndicate
 * 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.
 * Domenick Lombardozzi as Don Charles "Chickie" Invernizzi, underboss of the Invernizzi family
 * Vincent Piazza as Vince Antonacci, Chickie's top capo
 * A. C. Peterson as Pete "The Rock" Invernizzi, ailing boss of the Invernizzi family
 * Garrett Hedlund as Mitch Keller, an ex-rodeo star, ex-convict and bar owner who is an associate of the Manfredi syndicate
 * Dana Delany as Margaret Devereaux, the owner of Fennario horse ranch

Recurring

 * Annabella Sciorra as Joanne Manfredi, Dwight's younger sister
 * Chris Caldovino as Dennis "Goodie" Carangi, long-time member and Consigliere of the Invernizzi family who joins Manfredi in Tulsa
 * Ritchie Coster as Caolan Waltrip, the Irish leader of the outlaw biker gang The Black Macadams
 * Emily Davis as Rochelle "Roxy" Harrington; Manny's co-worker, a Black Macadams old lady and an informant for Stacy.
 * Ronnie Gene Blevins as Ben Hutchins
 * Barry Corbin as Babe
 * Michael Beach as Mark Mitchell, Tyson's father
 * Tatiana Zappardino as Tina Manfredi-Grieger, Dwight's estranged daughter and a Brooklyn florist
 * Scarlet Rose Stallone as Spencer, a former waitress who Dwight hires to care for his prize horse
 * Alan Autry as Brian Gillen, former owner of Fennario Ranch and Margaret Devereaux's ex-husband
 * McKenna Quigley Harrington as Grace.
 * Robert Walker Branchaud as Carson Pike
 * Patrick Ian Moore as Jack Paradise

Development
On December 6, 2021, it was reported that Taylor Sheridan and Terence Winter were developing a series for Paramount+ titled Kansas City. It was created by Sheridan, who had previously signed a multiyear 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 tasked with bringing the mafia back to Kansas City, Missouri. Sheridan, Winter, and series star Sylvester Stallone were announced as executive producers alongside Braden Aftergood, from Stallone's Balboa Productions, and David C. Glasser, Ron Burkle and Bob Yari from production company 101 Studios. Winter also served as showrunner on the series which was produced by MTV Entertainment Studios. Sheridan penned the pilot in a single week. Winter moved the setting to Tulsa, Oklahoma, hoping to give the characters a more remote setting. In 2022, Deadline Hollywood stated that it was given a straight-to-series order under the new name Tulsa King to reflect the change in location. Stallone involved himself in multiple aspects of the production. Noted Winter, "With Stallone, you're getting a writer, a director, a producer, an editor". Executive producer Glasser said that Stallone was "heavily involved in the editing process".

On November 30, 2022, Tulsa King was renewed for a second season. The following February, Winter was announced to have stepped down as showrunner due to "creative differences", with the search underway for a new showrunner, but would remain on the series as an executive producer. Later details revealed that Winter was fired by Sheridan because of differences in writing style, with Sheridan stating he preferred character driven plots, compared to Winter's plot driven characters. In February 2024, Winter was re-hired as a writer, after an opening in his schedule due to delays from the 2023 Writers' Guild of America strike. In his modified position, Winter serves as the series head writer and works outside the direct supervision of Sheridan. Sheridan ultimately chose not to utilize a conventional showrunner for the second season and instead opted to hire a director and executive producer to oversee day-to-day production. It was announced that this role would be performed by Craig Zisk.

Casting
At the time the series was announced, Sylvester Stallone was participating in negotiations to star as the lead character Sal in his scripted television debut. Stallone's character name was later changed to Dwight "The General" Manfredi. Stallone stated that filming television was more difficult and time-consuming than the films he had previously starred in. On March 24, 2022, Max Casella, Domenick Lombardozzi, Vincent Piazza and Jay Will were added to the cast; Casella, Lombardozzi and Piazza all portrayed members of the Invernizzi family crime syndicate, while Will starred as a recent college graduate and 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,   followed by Dana Delany in July and Annabella Sciorra in August. Miles Mussenden also starred in the series. Stallone's daughter Scarlet appeared in the series as Spencer, a barista and stable hand, who was also recruited to work with Dwight. Scarlet was originally mentioned for the role of Stallone's on-screen daughter, but was considered too young for the role, which went to Tatiana Zappardino instead. Additional casting for minor characters and background actors occurred in May 2022.

Ahead of the second season, Sciorra and Zappardino were promoted to the main cast. Frank Grillo also joined the starring cast for season two as Bill Bevilaqua, a mobster from Kansas City. During filming for the second season, Stallone and an unnamed director were accused of making disparaging remarks about background extras. Stallone was allegedly observed calling certain background actors "ugly," "tub of lard" and "fat guy with a cane." Stallone also suggested that the production cast "pretty young girls to be around me" instead. Atlanta based casting agency Rose Locke & CL Casting, who had been responsible for hiring extras, resigned from the production soon after. Zisk responded to the comments through TMZ by denying that the statements were ever made and stating that the casting agency had hired extras who were older than the age range requested. CNN reported that Paramount was investigating the allegations but that no formal complaints had been filed. SAG-AFTRA also responded to the allegations saying that their scope does not include background actors in Atlanta but that they would provide any requested guidance, they also issued a statement condemning such comments towards any actor. Thomas Mooneyham, a background actor on the series, stated that he believed the comments were about him after he and another extra were replaced with younger people. Stallone never responded to the allegations. On May 1, 2024, it was reported that Neal McDonough would appear as Cal Thresher. Two days later Rich Ting was cast in the recurring role of Jackie Ming. Casting for additional extras in the second season occurred in June 2024.

Production design
Suzanne McCabe serves as the series costume designer and based many outfits on the Gambino crime family and Franzese Crew, as well as photos from newspaper clippings in the 1980s, specifically citing John Gotti as inspiration. McCabe also stated that she tried to mostly use monochromatic colors while designing costumes, utilizing darker colors for the New York City-filmed scenes and softer colors for scenes in Oklahoma to represent the red soil located there. Sylvester Stallone was also allowed to pick many elements of his own costuming, including bolo ties, jewelry and shoes. Production designer Todd Jeffery opted to use a mix of soundstages and on location filming for Tulsa King. "The Higher Plane" dispensary featured in the series was created in a former Texaco gas station. Mirrors were used in a scene 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, Oklahoma, concluding on August 31, 2022. Some filming occurred in Tulsa on March 29, 2022, at Tulsa International Airport. Additional locations used in Tulsa include the 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 Oklahoma's economy by an estimated 56 million dollars.

It was later reported that the second season would not film in Oklahoma due to financial costs and complaints from the cast and crew, who did not like the extreme Oklahoma temperatures. Filming on the second season is occurring in the Atlanta, Georgia suburb of Norcross utilizing Eagle Rock Studios for sound stages. It began on April 1, 2024, and is expected to wrap on July 31. Some filming also took place in Gainesville. A second unit filmed b-roll scenes in Tulsa in mid-June 2024.

Release
The series premiere episode received an early promotional screening along with the fifth season premiere of Yellowstone in AMC Theatres on October 29–30, 2022. It then began its regular weekly release schedule on Paramount+ beginning on November 13. Tulsa King also received linear broadcasts of its first two episodes 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 launched within a Paramount+ hub on the streaming service Wowow. Season one episodes are set to receive a further linear broadcast on CBS beginning July 14, 2024. The second season will then begin releasing in the United States and Canada on September 15, and elsewhere 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.

Viewing figures
On Paramount+, Tulsa King is 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 beating Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon as "cable's highest-rated series debut" in 2022. It is also credited with the "biggest new sign-up day in [Paramount+] history."

Critical response
Darren Franich of Entertainment Weekly described the series as "Grumpy Old Grand Theft Auto". CNN Entertainment's Brian Lowery describes the series as an "odd mix of attributes" but applauds the compliments the series use of time. Reviewing for The Guardian, Lucy Mangan applauds the comedy aspect of the series, but fails to see it innovating further. Los Angeles Times writer Robert Lloyd calls the series "likeable" commending its use of comedy and character focus.

Tulsa King was often compared poorly to other series of Winter and Sheridan's, the latter of who was overseeing eight other series at the time it debuted. The Hollywood Reporter's Daniel Fienberg writes Taylor Sheridan and Terence Winter fail to have a strength 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".

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Writing for the NPR talk show Fresh Air, David Bianculli compares the formula of the series to that of Yellowstone's and notes the "sense of time passing and the importance of family." Stephan Lee with The Wrap says there's a "distinct straight-to-DVD quality to Tulsa King" but suggests that the series stands on its own and is only bad when compared to Sheridan's and Winter's other works. Ben Travers of IndieWire furthers this suggestion by only describing Tulsa King as "less serious" and a "breath of fresh air" compared to the seriousness and consequences seen in Sheridan's other series.

Stallone's acting received the highest praise from the series, although was still criticized by others for its lack of originality. Reviewing the first two episodes for Variety, Joshua Alston credits most of the series success to Sylvester Stallone stating ""Tulsa King" isn't a great show with him, but it would be far less interesting without him." Richard Roper, writing for the Chicago Sun-Times, opines that the series was written to Stallone's strengths. The A.V. Club's Todd Lazarski further praises the acting of Stallone but describes the series as an "undercooked fish-out-of-water mob story". USA Today writer Kelly Lawler criticizes both the overall concept and Stallone saying that he's "probably the king of something, but it's certainly not Tulsa, Oklahoma" and writing "Tulsa King is bad Goodfellas fan fiction."