Last month, Season 1 of Taylor Sheridan’s latest hit series Tulsa King wrapped up with Sylvester Stallone’s Dwight facing down betrayal and heartbreak. Dwight heading back to jail and leaving his daughter Tina (Tatiana Zappardino) behind again set the series up for a complex future where tensions are sure to run high and the stakes even higher. Although the finale is only a month and a half old at this point, it’s left fans clamoring for more. During an interview for the Party Down revival, Collider’s own Steve Weintraub got the chance to speak with Martin Starr about when Season 2 begins filming and the overwhelming success of the show.
Tulsa King follows recent ex-con Dwight “The General” Manfredi as he aims to rebuild his criminal empire even after his mob family banishes him to Oklahoma to start anew. Together with a new band of misfit criminals, he begins his ascent back to the top. Mixing family and mobster crime drama in Stallone’s TV debut, it proved to be an instant hit following in the vein of Sheridan’s other dramas Yellowstone and Mayor of Kingstown, scoring a renewal for Season 2 after only three episodes. With 3.7 million viewers tuning in during the special premiere, it became the largest series debut of the year, beating out other massive programs like the Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon. Moreover, Sheridan and company may have eyes on expanding it into its own TV universe a la Yellowstone, and its many spinoffs.
For as wildly popular as it turned out to be, there’s some uncertainty as to when the series will film its second season. Between Stallone’s film career, showrunner Terence Winter’s exit, and rumblings that the series won’t be filming in Oklahoma anymore, there’s a lot to figure out before Tulsa King can return. Starr echoed that sentiment of the unknown, but added he was still very excited saying:
“We don’t have dates yet. I think they’re working out so many details. We don’t even know where we’re going to do it this year, or, this next season. So I’m excited to find out everything. I don’t think they’ve dug into scripts or anything yet. I could be wrong, but you know, the impending writer’s strike certainly would urge anyone to get moving.”
Starr Was Shocked About How Tulsa King Carved a Spot Out For Itself
In this modern age of television where there’s so much jostling for attention, the popularity of Tulsa King was a bit of a surprise to Starr. After Weintraub congratulated him, he responded, saying:
“Hey, thanks so much. Yeah, it’s crazy. I didn’t expect it to get this kind of following. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I think [Sylvester] Stallone still deserves the audience that he’s getting here, but I guess I just didn’t expect it. There’s so much to watch now. You kinda don’t anticipate anything being stand-out.”
Part of that success can be attributed to Starr whose performance as Dwight’s begrudging business partner Bodhi was a point of praise for how his more hushed cynical nature played against the bombastic Stallone. Starr loved the experience of appearing opposite the Rocky star, but he also got to share the screen with a talented cast that featured Andrea Savage, Jay Will, Max Casella, Domenick Lombardozzi, Vincent Piazza, A.C. Peterson, Garrett Hedlund, and Dana Delany.