Paramount renewed Taylor Sheridan’s Tulsa King for a second season just three episodes into the first season. The series stars Sylvester Stallone in the lead role of Dwight ‘The General’ Manfredi, a former mafia capo for the New York-based Invernizzi crime family, as he starts a new life after serving a 25-year jail term for murder. Despite staying loyal to the mafia throughout his incarceration, Manfredi is banished to Tulsa, Oklahoma by the family.
The action-packed plot speaks a lot about Taylor Sheridan’s intricate writing, with Sylvester Stallone’s charm bringing the lead character to life. The richly talented support cast of Jay Will, Andrea Savage, Domenick Lombardozzi, Max Casella, and Garrett Hedlund also complement Stallone’s performance to make every scene lively.
The first season earned Paramount a record number of new subscribers, but still left many unanswered questions that fans hope to see answered in the upcoming second season. With so much to look forward to, let’s delve into what fans can expect from the second season of Tulsa King.
What happened in Tulsa King Season 1?
The first season of Tulsa King ended in a cliffhanger, with Dwight Manfredi getting arrested, after being betrayed by the ATF agent Stacy Beale who was also his love interest. Although Stacy felt sorry for Dwight, she chose to betray him in a bid to save her own career.
The ATF was already investigating Dwight, but they had no incriminating evidence until Stacy used the flash drive containing details of her share of Caolan Waltrip’s money that Dwight gave her as evidence of the attempted bribery of a federal agent.
The ending was a shocking turn of events after Dwight smoothly settled in Tulsa and built a new empire with the help of his gang of misfits. He single-handedly turned the formerly docile city into a mafia town by teaching Tyson, Bodhi, and the rest of his gang to operate as gangsters and defend their territory from Waltrip’s biker gang. He even repaired his relationship with his estranged daughter Tina during his time in Tulsa.
His success in Tulsa was proof of his adaptability and leadership qualities because the whole project looked like a lost cause in the beginning. Charles ‘Chickie’ Invernizzi banished him to Oklahoma hoping he would die there because he saw him as a threat to his leadership position in New York. The final episode also revealed that Dwight took the fall for Chickie. Dwight only killed the victim, (Ripple) to spare him the pain of burning to death after Chickie’s torture tools started a fire.
What to expect in Tulsa King Season 2
The ending of the first season set the stage for an electric start to the second season as Dwight Manfredi is set to start the new season behind prison bars again. However, after his last sacrifice of 25 years in jail was betrayed by the Invernizzi family, Manfredi won’t be keen on spending more time in prison. However, a jailbreak is off the cards because Stallone’s character in Tulsa King isn’t the type to spend the rest of his life on the run, which means a change of heart from Stacy or a legal victory are more likely.
Towards the end of the first season, Manfredi’s daughter also became more involved in the show, getting closer to him and even bringing his grandchildren to see him. With Chickie plotting revenge on Manfredi for being locked out of his thriving Tulsa empire, Tina and her family are his e asiest targets. The second season could therefore be more of a Tina Manfredi show, as opposed to being Dwight-centered.
Tina suffered the worst consequences of Dwight’s incarceration because she had to grow up without her father. Her mother also divorced Dwight, which ruined her childhood as she grew up in a broken family. When Tina eventually finds out the truth about who her real enemy is, she is likely to fight Chickie a lot harder than Dwight.
Tatiana Zappardino is therefore likely to play a bigger role in the upcoming second season as Tina fights to continue her father’s legacy in Tulsa while avenging the family’s betrayal by the Invernizzis. Dwight’s new gang of misfits will also take full charge of Tulsa now that Coalan Waltrip and his gang are no more.
Will Sylvester Stallone return for Tulsa King Season 2?
Despite being his first ever scripted TV series, Sylvester Stallone gave a scintillating performance in Tulsa King, but that doesn’t mean he enjoyed his time on set. Speaking to Variety in February 2023, Stallone confessed that his time on the Tulsa King set in the first season was gruelling.
“It’s beyond tough. I can’t believe some people have done this for four, five, or six seasons. It’s brutal, compared to filmmaking. I’ll never say, ‘This is a hard shoot’ again on a feature. It’s a vacation compared to this! It really is.”
He also confessed that he wasn’t sure whether he would be available for the show’s future seasons which led to speculation in the fan base that his time on the show could be done. However, there has been no official confirmation from Paramount about changes to the cast since the show was renewed for the second season.
With the show centered around his character, Stallone is likely to appear in the second season, because the renewal is unlikely to have received a nod without consultation with the lead actor. Stallone’s tone, however, suggests that his role in the show’s future seasons could be significantly diminished.
As for the continuity of Tulsa King, Paramount confirmed that they were considering creating a whole universe around the show just as they did with Yellowstone. Tulsa King spinoffs are therefore on the cards. It means the network already has plans for possibly continuing the storyline without Dwight Manfredi, but that will likely come long after the second season.
Where Is Tulsa King Season 2 filming?
Like the plot details, Paramount is tight-lipped on the location and commencement of filming for the second season of Tulsa King. While the first season was filmed in Tulsa and Oklahoma City, the second season is likely to be filmed in a different location. Prairie Surf Media, whose studios hosted the filming of the first season in Oklahoma City, confirmed that there had been no communication from the production team about resuming filming of Season 2 in their studios.
The SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes led to delays in the commencement of filming, but despite both of them now being resolved, there is still no news of the crew returning to Tulsa. Terence Winter who executive-produces the show complained about the harsh weather the crew endured during their five months of filming for the first season and that might be one of the reasons why the second season might be filmed in a different location.
Despite the many scenic locations featured in the first season, Winter said that most of the scenes, including Dwight’s iconic hotel room, were filmed in the studio. That means the crew could film the second season in a friendlier location, although some landmarks in Tulsa and Oklahoma will still appear in the second season.
When will Tulsa King Season 2 be released?
Paramount hasn’t given any more news about the second season of Tulsa King apart from its renewal, so the release date of the second season remains a mystery. Taylor Sheridan’s tight 2024 schedule could also affect the release date of Tulsa King’s second season because the writer has nine shows coming up including the second half of Yellowstone’s fifth season. The positive numbers earned by Tulsa King’s first season will still make it a priority, so we expect Tulsa King Season 2 to begin production later in 2024 for release in 2025.