Tulsa, Oklahoma to be blunt, has had it rough as far as Hollywood is concerned. Long after being the setting for S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders, the city was reduced to a place where TV characters were banished. That happened on Justified (squirrelly Gary left Kentucky and was tracked down by Wynn Duffy and Quarles while giving a motivational speech at a Tulsa hotel) and on Friends (Chandler got banished in T-Town by his workplace, where Salma Blair tried to seduce him, so strange). Years passed, and finally, Tulsa became the setting for HBO’s Watchmen and an episode of Lovecraft Country. It’s not usually a place where good things are depicted onscreen, but things are looking up for Bill Hader’s hometown.
Currently, FX’s Reservation Dogs (which usually films near Muskogee) has been filming scenes in Tulsa, and oh hey, Sylvester Stallone is in the city to shoot the authentically-named Tulsa King. The series is one of the newest projects from Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan, and Sly has been spotted while staying at a downtown hotel, and he’s filming up a storm as a New York mob capo who somehow ends up in Tulsa. Here’s a first look at Stallone as Dwight “The General” Manfred for Paramount+. He’s standing in front of the city’s perpetual construction as well as the Boston Avenue Methodist Church
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Here’s how Sheridan previously described Stallone’s character:
“He’s a lifetime gangster. He took the fall for the bosses and went to prison for 25 years, kept his mouth shut, and now he comes out. Next thing you know, he’s in Tulsa. He has to now start a new life, create a gang. They want him to be an earner. That’s when the fun begins.”
As of now, Tulsa King hasn’t publicized a release date, but there’s plenty more coming from Sheridan, too. In addition to the O.G. Yellowstone series, there’s also the 1883 spinoff as well as the forthcoming 6666 and 1932. Stallone’s show will be outside the universe proper, as will Zoe Saldana in Lioness and Billy Bob Thornton in Land Man. And if you want more “vintage” Sheridan, you can always go back and revisit him as Charming Deputy Chief David Hale in Sons Of Anarchy. RIP to Hale and Opie!
