In addition to continually expanding the frontiers of his Yellowstone television universe with multiple spinoffs and prequels that recount the sprawling, violent history of the Dutton family, Taylor Sheridan has also been busy building new crime thriller worlds. Last year he introduced Jeremy Renner as Mike McLuskey in the prison town saga Mayor of Kingstown, which is set to return this year. And prolific showrunner Sheridan has now got another hit on his hands in Tulsa King, the mob drama which he co-created with Terence Winter, and which stars action movie legend Sylvester Stallone in his first leading TV role.
“There is no better team to tell this story of a fish-out-of-water mobster than Taylor Sheridan and Terence Winter,” executive producer David Glasser said prior to the release of Tulsa King. “Their talent behind the camera, paired with the iconic Sylvester Stallone, will deliver a thrilling look at a man who prioritizes loyalty and family over all else, and is now taking stock of his life and grappling with the choices that have brought him to Tulsa.”
Stallone plays Dwight “The General” Manfredi, a mafia capo from New York City who is released from prison at the start of the series, only to be dispatched by his employers to Tulsa, Oklahoma with the task of setting up a whole new operation on behalf of the Invernizzi crime family. Mafredi is aided in his criminal endeavors by pot dealer Bodhi (Martin Starr) and rogue-turned-ally Manny (Max Casella), and pursues a romance with Stacy (Andrea Savage), unaware that she is a former ATF agent.
The pilot episode of Tulsa King debuted on Paramount+ on November 13, 2022, and the ninth and final episode of the first season dropped on the platform on January 8, 2023.
Will Tulsa King return for Season 2?
Paramount+ renewed the series in November 2022, after just three episodes had streamed on its platform. Shortly after, a change in leadership behind the camera was announced, with Terence Winter stepping down as showrunner due to “creative differences,” although he will stay on board in his capacity as executive producer.
While Season 2 will still be set in its titular city, it looks like filming will take place in a different state altogether. While Season 1 was shot in Tulsa and Oklahoma City, The Oklahoman reported earlier this year that after the show was renewed, production did not resubmit its application to the Oklahoma Film & Music Office for the state film incentive.
Who will be in the cast of Tulsa King Season 2?
Stallone will return as Manfredi in Season 2, and the rest of the main cast are expected to reprise their roles as well, including Martin Starr as Bodhi, Andrea Savage as Stacy, Max Casella as Manny, Jay Will as Tyson, Domenick Lombardozzi as “Chickie” Invernizzi, Vincent Piazza as Vince, Garrett Hedlund as Mitch, Annabella Sciorra as Joanne, Dana Delany as Margaret, Michael Beach as Mark Mitchell, Tatiana Zappardino as Tina, AC Peterson as Pete, and Ronnie Gene Blevins as Ben.
How many episodes will Season 2 have?
The first season of Tulsa King consisted of nine episodes, and it is reasonable to assume that Season 2 will have a similar length—however, it is also possible that the number of episodes in Season 2 will be affected by the recent WGA strikes.
What will Season 2 of Tulsa King be about?
Plot details remain closely under wraps for now, although Season 1 ended with Manfredi’s arrest after Stacy set him up, meaning Season 2 will likely start with him in a similar position to the very beginning of the show: in jail.
There is also a good chance that Tulsa King will follow in Yellowstone’s footsteps and end up launching a whole slate of interconnected spinoffs based either around the Oklahoma setting or the Invernizzi criminal empire.
“The huge success we’ve had with Tulsa King and Sylvester Stallone opens up possibilities with Taylor Sheridan, who consistently, his mind works in terms of universes and backstories, so I think there’s always a possibility that there’s more to that universe and more to that story,” said Paramount’s Tanya Giles.
When and where will Season 2 of Tulsa King be released?
Season 2 will air on Paramount+, although a release date has not yet been confirmed, and is now in flux given that production has faced a number of delays. First, the departure of executive producer Terence Winter means that the search for a new showrunner with an appropriately bold vision, not to mention mobster drama credentials (Winter worked on both The Sopranos and Boardwalk Empire) is underway.
Additionally, the now-resolved writers’ strike meant that all work had ceased on scripts for Season 2 until very recently. In a statement made to Newsweek, Stallone acknowledged the impact that the strike was having on production, but also expressed his full support for the WGA.
“It’s definitely affecting work because we can’t move forward with a lot of projects, especially Tulsa King,” he said. “But I think it’s changed so much that the writers do have a serious gripe… They’re in a grievance that it’s changed. There’s not enough work to keep all these writers going. And then they’re living in under this cloud of AI. It’s a very terrifying time to be a writer. They work on, like, for our show, eight episodes, and then you’re done, and that’s it. Like, ‘What do I live on for the rest of the year?’ sort of a thing. So I understand their plight.”
The SAG-AFTRA strike, which continued after the WGA ended, will also have have caused delays to production, although that has also now since been resolved. This means that hypothetically, work can resume on Season 2 right away, although it is unlikely that filming will start until 2024. At this point, we can probably expect a delayed release date of early 2025.