One of Paramount+’s most successful TV shows, Tulsa King, returns for its third season on September 21. One of the many Taylor Sheridan-created shows on the streaming platform continues to be one of my favorites of his. With the return of the third season, FandomWire had the chance to catch up with the cast of the show, including Sylvester Stallone, to talk about what audiences can expect from the upcoming season.
In the third season of Tulsa King, Dwight Manfredi is expanding his empire in a lucrative liquor business. However, this is in direct competition with a new enemy in town, Jeremiah Dunmire and the Dunmire family. The explosive third season sees lots of action, with Stallone continuing to deliver a top-notch performance, and the introduction of Russell Lee Washington, played by Samuel L. Jackson.
Sylvester Stallone and Cast Talk Season 3 of Tulsa King
FandomWire: The Dunmires are stepping in as one of Dwight’s adversaries in season 3, led by Robert Patrick. Talk to me about that casting and working with him because he always plays one heck of a villain?
Sylvester Stallone: I worked with him in Copland. He just has that voice. But he’s gotten so much better even, and he’s like a great character actor. I wanted him so badly because there are maybe three people being considered for that. Like with Apollo Creed, no one could do that particular character better. So we’re extremely lucky. When he was on the set, God, you could just feel the tension. Even though we’re great buddies and we laugh a lot, when I look at that mean expression he’s got and that crazy outfit, it’s like a time machine.
FW: The Tulsa King world is expanding with NOLA King. Samuel L. Jackson is introduced to the world as Russell Lee Washington in this season of Tulsa King. What’s it like bringing him on board with this season and building this future spin-off?
Stallone: Kind of like lightning in a jar, you know what I mean? There’s a reason he has been around for so long. He’s very skillful at his craft, and as soon as he comes on, there’s a certain language thing with that. You’ll see wh at I’m talking about, and sparks fly. They really do. You don’t feel that all the time. Like when I work with Dana Delany, I know she’s going to give me this performance, and she just has 40 years of practice or more. I mean, she’s been acting her whole life, and there’s a relaxedness and calmness that becomes sensual.
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FW: With entering the third season of playing this character, do you find yourself excited to see what direction your character will go upon reading the script?
Garrett Hedlund: Yeah, there’s a lot of anticipation that it’s going to be something new and exciting. I was very excited to get to work with Bella this season. The way we ended off in season two, I was very excited to see where we were going to go with that, and it was very wonderful and exciting that we got to go in the direction that we did.
Martin Starr: Yeah, it’s fun. This year we had new writers, but everyone has been communicative from the beginning until now. This process has been really great, and I didn’t expect Sly to be so wanting of kind of improv and a freeness with the words at times. But he really enjoys the comedy, and he is funny himself. It’s been a nice departure from my usual comedy, but I still kind of get to play the way that I’m used to.
Dana Delany: Oh yes. Because you never know season to season what’s going to happen this time, you know? Like Kevin and I were saying, I’m just happy to be there. I love working with Sly. It’s so much fun, and I just feel grateful because it’s just a great show to be on.
FW: You are new to the world of Tulsa King, playing Special Agent Musso, who has this vendetta against Dwight. What attracted you to the role, and what was that preparation process like bringing him to life?
Kevin Pollak: I’ve been very, very fortunate all these years and, after A Few Good Men, to cross over from auditioning to getting offers. So when something this ginormous falls out of the blue, a runaway smash hit has two seasons under its belt. Hey, would you like to join us for season three? You know, my head spins. Then to read the character, is it going to be adversarial with Sly’s character, a fantasy come true to go toe-to-toe with Mount Rushmore? So my preparation was to be ready and be prepared when you show up on day one.
Then I found a level of generosity as a scene partner [Stallone] that I had not anticipated. He’s very warm and very surprisingly funny and disarming and just generous and looks after you in a magical way.
FW: I feel like Tyson is coming into his own. How has it been transforming this character from where he started to where he is now? The same for Joanne, who is playing a pivotal role in the new business venture of Dwight’s this season. Talk to me about building Joanne through three seasons.
Jay Will: It’s just trusting my own guns and what I’m bringing to the table. Because again, I got into it a little bit more green, and I would second-guess my choices of staying in the confines of what I was told to do. I’m excited about the evolution and the ownership and me doing my own thing.
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FW: The same for Joanne, who is playing a pivotal role in the new business venture of Dwight’s this season. Talk to me about building Joanne through three seasons.
Annabella Sciorra: Oh, it’s been really fun. I’ve never been a regular on a TV show before, and I didn’t know what that process was. It’s fun to go from Joanne’s sister to Dwight’s brother dying and then to be asked back. But in that first season, Sly came to me and said, You’re going to come to Tulsa too. I was like, really? And he made it happen. I think this season she really becomes involved, as she’s not just cooking and at home, she really becomes involved in the business and has a lot of responsibility and takes it very seriously.
FW: Cleo is entering the Tulsa King world at an interesting standpoint.
Talk to me about working with the writing team to bring her to life.
Bella Heathcote: Oh man. I mean. It was wild to step into a show where, you know, it hadn’t all been written yet. So that was being developed as the season went along. And I think Sly had a huge hand in that. But what I knew coming in was she was a lot of fun and a lot of trouble. She has this undeniable chemistry with Mitch, and you know, she’s dealing with stuff at home with her dad, with the distillery, and marrying those two worlds. The sort of tension and drama of what’s happening on the home front and the sexual tension between these two (Cleo and Mitch) was like a lot of fun to explore.
FW: Next year is the 50th anniversary of the release of Rocky. Looking back, how did the trials and tribulations in getting that made shape Stallone the actor and the person today?
Stallone: Wow. Actually, I’m writing a book on that now at HarperCollins about landing here in 1969 with zero in that whole journey and ending on Oscar night. It changed me drastically because I was at the very end of my rope in the acting world, meaning that most actors get their break around 24, 23, or 26, the latest. I was at 29 and three-quarters, and I knew the clock was running out. So there’s the desperation, but the irony is I couldn’t sell it. I couldn’t let it go. It’s like letting a piece of your flesh go or an unborn child.
So as I’m writing this book, I’m like, how did you do this? I mean, seriously, it was insane. It got up to the equivalent of $2 million in today’s money. Are you kidding me? But I’m telling you, Ricky, it never entered my mind to sell it. The book is about this conundrum. But it did change me. I realized that, that you are basically on your own and the more I could have a creative input on anything I did, it usually worked out the best for me.
Tulsa King Season 3 comes to Paramount+ on September 21.