Sylvester Stallone's Tulsa King Is Coming Back For Season 4 (But There's One Major Catch)

The sun seemingly has no intentions on setting on the Taylor Sheridan television empire any time soon. It's become way too big to fail at this point. The series creator behind "Mayor of Kingstown," "Lioness," and "Landman" is further emboldened in this Paramount+ media landscape with the explosive success of "Yellowstone," in addition to its many, many spin-off shows. It appears, however, that another of Sheridan's creative outputs, "Tulsa King," is currently on track to becoming its own multi-media franchise. The neo-Western stars Sylvester Stallone as Dwight "The General" Manfredi, a New York mafia boss who's sent out to Tulsa, Oklahoma in the wake of a 25 year prison stint. Although he was initially tasked with establishing the mob's operations out there, Dwight has taken to expanding his own personal empire by any means necessary. That, of course, invites tension from outside parties who either want a slice of the action or to put Dwight down for good.

/Film's Chris Evangelista may have given a not so favorable review to the series' first season, but it's clear "Tulsa King" has prospered since its premiere. The second season global premiere resulted in Paramount+'s best ratings last September, rounding out to about 21.1 million viewers. There were talks last November of Stallone trying to round out a deal with Paramount concerning the future of "Tulsa King," and it looks like we have confirmation as to what that will look like. The series was renewed for a fourth season just days before the season 3 premiere. With it, however, came a change of the guard.

David Erickson, who served as the showrunner for the upcoming third season of "Tulsa King," will be leaving his duties behind as Terence Winter is set to fill in the position moving forward (via Deadline). There have been a bunch of shake-ups across the crime drama's relatively short history, so I'll do my best to break it all down for you.

Casual viewers of "Tulsa King" will surely be excited to see Stallone return. He's the face of the fish-out-of-water series, in addition to one of its many executive producers. Stallone considers the art of making television a brutal undertaking that rivals being a filmmaker. If he's coming back, you know the show's in relatively steady hands. When you're looking at the production side of things, however, the constant reshuffling of leadership positions reveals conflict.

While Sheridan may have created "Tulsa King," he's not the one running the show. The revolving door of this series' production crew starts with its first season, where "Boardwalk Empire" creator Terence Winter served as both an executive producer and showrunner. Creative differences between Winter and Sheridan led the former to exit the show before season 2, despite the series' success. In a surprise turn of events, Winter rejoined "Tulsa King" before the sophomore season got underway, but only as an EP and head writer (via The Hollywood Reporter). He would essentially man the writers' room, while director Craig Zisk was considered the de facto on-set showrunner. "Fear the Walking Dead" co-creator Dave Erickson was brought on as the showrunner for the third season, yet is departing before his episodes even air. Winter, who was a consultant on the third season, is set to resume his showrunning duties for the upcoming fourth season down the line.

It's clear that "Tulsa King" always seems to fluctuate in terms of who's in charge from season to season. In addition to that, issues raised by the cast and crew led the Oklahoma City-based show to move from its shooting location in the first season to the much more financially feasible Atlanta, Georgia for its second season and beyond (via Dextero). The third season could be the thing that really kicks the "Tulsa King" franchise into overdrive as Paramount+ has already ordered a spin-off series entitled "NOLA King," with the kicker being that it's surrounding a character viewers haven't even met yet.

Samuel L. Jackson's Russell Lee Washington Jr. has been propped up as an antagonistic figure at some point during season 3. I suppose it shows confidence in what they have, but I think it's funny that the spin-off's synopsis technically spoils the outcome of his presence in the new season of "Tulsa King" before it even airs. "Reacher" at least gave Maria Sten's Francis Neagley time to make an impression in the original show before moving forward with her own series. Despite earlier reports, it appears Erickson will also not return to helm Jackson's Louisiana-based spin-off, and will instead go back to showrunning "Mayor of Kingstown," so he'll be staying in the Sheridan family.

The season 3 premiere of "Tulsa King" is set to drop on Paramount+ on September 21, 2025.