‘Tulsa King’ Featurette Breaks Down the Paramount+ Show’s ‘Absurd Comedy of Errors’ (Video)

Star Sylvester Stallone, creator Taylor Sheridan and showrunner Terence Winter explained combining the gangster and Western genres in the new clip

Creator Taylor Sheridan had been intrigued by the idea of a show like Paramount+’s “Tulsa King,” which features Brooklyn-bred mafia capo Dwight “The General” Manfredi (Sylvester Stallone) being unceremoniously transplanted in Oklahoma. The “Yellowstone” creator, who also serves as executive producer, broke down the genesis of the series in a new making-of featurette.

“A gangster from New York to Middle America to establish the mob’s influence in the area — what an absurd comedy of errors that would be,” he said in the clip.

That’s when he brought on Terence Winter as showrunner and EP, who he believed would have a “keen understanding of this world and would appreciate a real fresh look at it” having served as a producer on “The Sopranos,” arguably the most well-known depiction of New York mobsters.

“Everybody responds to the mob genre, and taking that idea and those characters and placing them in a place where you’d never encounter them — it might as well be another planet,” Winter said.

Stallone added, describing how his character builds a new criminal empire from the ground up with a group of “misfits”: “He has to start a new life when most people think life is over. He goes out West, now he’s building a whole new family. They’re not gangsters, they’re just everyday people and that’s a whole different paradigm.”

Jay Will, who also stars in the series as Manfredi’s so-called ambassador to Tulsa, said, “It’s different, it’s like a Western-gangster thing going on. It’s exciting, it’s new and it’s fresh.”

“Tulsa King” also features Andrea Savage (“I’m Sorry”), Max Casella (“The Tender Bar”), Martin Starr (“Silicon Valley”), Domenick Lombardozzi (“The Irishman”), Vincent Piazza (“Boardwalk Empire”), A.C. Peterson (“Superman & Lois”), Garrett Hedlund (“The United States vs. Billie Holiday”) and Dana Delany (“Body of Proof”).

Stallone, David C. Glasser, Ron Burkle, Bob Yari, David Hutkin, Allen Coulter and Braden Aftergood executive produce. Produced by MTV Entertainment Studios and 101 Studios, “Tulsa King” will air weekly on Sundays following its initial two-episode debut on Nov. 13. A linear airing will also take place Nov. 20, immediately following a new episode of “Yellowstone.”

“Tulsa King” is the latest addition to Sheridan’s growing slate on Paramount+, which includes prequel series “1883,” “Mayor of Kingstown” and the upcoming series “1923” (also a “Yellowstone” prequel), “Bass Reeves,” “Lioness” and “Landman,” as part of the producer’s overall deal with ViacomCBS.

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