Tulsa King: Stallone Makes Himself at Home
Updated
Tulsa King has a simple advantage over a great many crime shows: Sylvester Stallone can walk into a room and make the room worth watching. As Dwight Manfredi, he doesn't need a complicated introduction to establish authority. His size, voice and complete expectation of being listened to do most of the work.
After twenty-five years in prison, Dwight expects his loyalty to the New York mob to count for something. Instead, he is sent to Tulsa to find business where the organisation has none. It is an insult presented as an opportunity. Dwight decides to concentrate on the opportunity, which becomes everybody else's problem.
The first season is an entertaining star vehicle rather than a great crime drama. I enjoy the incongruity and Stallone's presence, but the writing is uneven and the supporting world isn't always substantial enough to stand independently of him. If the premise makes you smile, there is enough here to justify a look.
A new market for some very old methods
Dwight doesn't arrive with a sophisticated plan for understanding Oklahoma. He recognises a business that makes money, applies pressure and expects the arrangement to become obvious. The comedy comes from the gap between how natural this seems to him and how alarming it is for somebody having an otherwise ordinary working day.
That is funnier than the technology jokes. A man adjusting after a long prison sentence is a useful premise, but discovering that phones have changed only carries you so far. The stronger material concerns what hasn't changed for Dwight: the importance of respect, his confidence in intimidation and his assumption that a deal can be made if he finds the right person.
Stallone makes him sociable without making him harmless. He can be charming and genuinely interested in somebody, then return to the fact that he has come for their money. The two attitudes sit together rather more comfortably for Dwight than they should.
Bodhi would prefer a quieter day
Martin Starr is particularly useful as Bodhi, the dispensary owner drawn into Dwight's orbit. His resistance doesn't need to be heroic. Exasperation is enough. Starr has the timing to suggest a whole alternative life in which this conversation would not be happening.
Jay Will's Tyson responds differently. Dwight represents excitement and possibility as well as danger. Their relationship gives the show energy, although the writing sometimes confines Tyson to reacting while the older man gets the punchline. He is more interesting when his own appetite for the situation is allowed to matter.
Garrett Hedlund, as bar owner Mitch Keller, contributes an easier local presence. These people give Tulsa texture, but I would like more of that texture to survive when Dwight is elsewhere. Too often the supporting characters feel like stops on the star's route through the episode rather than people with equally urgent business of their own.
Charisma isn't the same as a convincing script
The unevenness is most noticeable when the show asks a scene to be several things at once. A broad joke can be followed by a threat, then a moment of family feeling, without enough space for the change to settle. Each component might work separately; together they can feel as though different programmes have briefly shared a room.
The exposition also tends to underline what we already know. Dwight has lost a large stretch of his life and resents the reception he receives. Stallone can communicate that in his face and bearing. Repeated reminders are less effective than watching him encounter the consequences.
I don't need Tulsa King to become sombre or meticulously realistic. The pleasure is partly in its exaggeration. I do need the people opposing Dwight to remain credible enough that his success means something. When resistance folds too conveniently, the criminal adventure starts resembling a tour arranged for his benefit.
There is a life behind the suit
Dwight's interrupted family life gives the premise weight beyond the jokes. Twenty-five years is not a short absence that an apology can neatly repair. The world has continued without him, and his sense of what he earned by keeping quiet doesn't settle what other people lost.
Andrea Savage, as Stacy Beale, offers another kind of friction. She can meet Dwight in a conversation without simply becoming an audience for his confidence. Their exchanges are more involving when neither person is entirely in command of the situation.
These quieter strands suggest a richer drama, but they don't consistently receive the room they need. The series is often eager to get back to the next business problem or confrontation. I like the momentum; I sometimes wish it would spend a little more of that confidence on an uncomfortable conversation without rushing to resolve the mood. Stallone can carry it.
The setting earns its place
The contrast between Dwight's tailored appearance and the places he enters is an effective recurring joke. He is conspicuous without needing to announce that he is a stranger. A bar or a shop becomes more interesting because you can watch the people inside decide what to make of him.
Tulsa also lets the show step away from the familiar New York mob hierarchy. Dwight's authority is not automatically legible here. He has to build relationships, even if his preferred opening negotiation is not especially diplomatic. The new surroundings give the premise somewhere to go beyond complaining that the old neighbourhood has changed.
Taylor Sheridan created the series, with Terence Winter serving as its first-season showrunner. That background might suggest a heavier drama than the one on offer. The useful expectation is a broad crime comedy with bursts of violence, built around a star who can sell both a courteous greeting and the threat sitting beneath it.
Watch it for the right reason
I would recommend Tulsa King first to somebody who likes Stallone and wants a relatively easy crime-show watch. He makes Dwight enjoyable company even when the script is leaning heavily on familiar material. There are enough amusing encounters and moments of menace to keep it moving.
I wouldn't put it ahead of the strongest long-form gangster dramas. The character work and tonal control are not consistently on that level, and the premise alone cannot conceal every convenient turn. Its appeal is more immediate: an imposing older mobster, an unfamiliar town and a growing collection of people wondering how they became involved.
For deeper criminal-family drama, The Sopranos remains the first recommendation. Get Shorty is worth considering for another collision between criminal habits and an unfamiliar business, while MobLand offers a different example of a leading performance carrying uneven writing.
UK viewing: Current UK listings include Paramount+. Check the available seasons and your subscription before starting. Availability checked 13 September 2026; the detailed verdict here concerns the first season.
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