Gritty Crime Series On Streaming Delivers Best Sylvester Stallone Performance In Years

Tulsa King was developed for television by Sicario screenwriter and Yellowstone co-creator Taylor Sheridan, with Boardwalk Empire creator and former Sopranos producer Terence Winter serving as showrunner. The series stars Sylvester Stallone, Andrea Savage, Martin Starr, Max Casella, Jay Will, and Reacher‘s Domenick Lombardozzi. The series premiere received a limited theater screening through a partnership with AMC theaters, airing the pilot alongside the Season 5 opener of Yellowstone for a special two-part event.

Tulsa King centers on Sylvester Stallone’s Dwight Manfredi, a mafia capo in the fictional Invernizzi crime family who served 25 years in prison on murder charges. Upon his release, Dwight assumes he will be put back in business and resume managing a crew, and even be rewarded for his loyalty for not speaking to the FBI during his lengthy incarceration. Unfortunately, the boss’s son Chickie arranges for Dwight to move to Tulsa, Oklahoma, under the guise of establishing a satellite business in the untapped locale.

Both Dwight and the audience immediately recognize this supposed promotion as a banishment, as Chickie no longer sees value in Dwight’s inclusion in the family. Despite this major setback, Dwight begins immediately making new contacts out in Oklahoma, including his young chauffeur, Tyson, and a local business owner named Bodhi. As Tulsa King‘s first season unfolds over the course of nine episodes, local and federal law enforcement begin to take note of Dwight’s presence, as tensions between the banished capo and his New York family continue to worsen.

Tulsa King serves as Sylvester Stallone‘s scripted television debut and showcases a wide array of emotional complexity from his fascinating character. Though the series was renewed for a second season shortly after premiering on the streamer in November of 2022, the production has encountered many roadblocks and is currently not set to air new episodes until at least early 2025.

Like many other productions, Tulsa King was held up by the WGA and SAG-AFTRA union strikes which raged on through most of 2023. Beyond the strikes, the series saw some behind-the-scenes controversy when it was revealed that Taylor Sheridan and Terence Winter had significant creative differences, resulting in Winter being fired from the project. Though Winter will remain attached as an executive producer, there has been no official announcement at this time regarding who will take his place as series showrunner moving forward.

With a second season long overdue, now is the perfect time to catch Tulsa King or rewatch the show for a quick refresher. The series is currently available to stream in full on Paramount+.