Powerhouse writer-producer and Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan is adding yet another feather to his cap. Sheridan’s latest series, Tulsa King, starring Sylvester Stallone, premieres Sunday, Nov. 13 on Paramount+. And word on the street is Sheridan wrote the pilot episode in less than a day.
No surprise there.
Sheridan is one of the most prolific producers working right now. Tulsa King marks the seventh TV series in his overall production deal with Paramount Studios, which began with his mega-hit Yellowstone and has ballooned into a universe of spin-offs and prequel series. It’s the MCU of western TV, and it’s Sheridan’s brainchild.
David Glasser, Sheridan’s co-producer, recently offered some insights into the uber-producer’s mysterious — and slightly frightening — writing process, recounting the truly inhuman Tulsa King production timeline in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. Here’s how it went down: Back in 2021, Glasser and Sheridan had a good, short chat about Sylvester Stallone’s longtime desire to play a mafioso. This was on a Friday. “Then, Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m., [Sheridan] goes, ‘Check your inbox’,” said Glasser. “There is a script he’s already written called Kansas City King and it’s incredible.” Sheridan and Glasser took the idea to Stallone the following Monday.
The Italian Stallion is the latest in a long list of movie stars making the jump to the small screen for a Sheridan-branded show. There’s Kevin Costner in Yellowstone, of course. And Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren are currently filming 1923, the latest prequel series in the Dutton family saga.
Netting the big fish seems to be Sheridan’s superpower. “Taylor has the ability to say, ‘Come take a chance with me, and you’ll feel like you’re on a movie set,'” said Glasser. “You’re going to see even more coming to the table that want to be a part of his incredibly rich material.”
Sheridan has lined up big names behind the camera, too. Terence Winter, the Emmy-winning Sopranos producer and The Wolf of Wall Street scribe, is Tulsa King’s showrunner. According to Winter, the series is a fresh take on the classic mob drama: “The genius of Taylor’s pilot is it’s a marriage of two genres: the Western and the gangster movie.”
In Tulsa King, Sylvester Stallone stars as Dwight Manfredi, a mobster who’s just been released after 25 years in prison. Manfredi is sent southward, to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he sets up a syndicate for his Brooklyn-based crime family. It’s a fish-out-of-water story, and Winter said it’s provided Stallone some breathing room as a performer: “He’s gotten to do things in this show that he’s never done, ever.”
For his part, Stallone has found the breakneck pace of episodic TV challenging. He compared filming an entire season to “doing ten sequels.”
According to Winter, Stallone’s work in the series will be something new for audiences. “You’re going to see colors in him that you have never seen,” Winter said. “I’m really excited for people to see how funny and charming and emotional he gets.”