“What is that place?†a grizzled voice genuinely asks his driver. Response? “It’s a dispensary.â€
All those years of cannabis-legalization activism (not to mention embarrassing Halsey lyrics) have led to this moment in the trailer for Tulsa King. Sylvester Stallone, playing an “original gangster†in Taylor Sheridan’s latest series, gets to learn what a dispensary is. What a world we live in! Stallone stars as an aging gangster who is sent to Tulsa, Oklahoma, from New York to figure out how to make some business happen there. If that sounds like your type of show (or like your dad’s type of show, which you will also watch a few episodes of this Thanksgiving), this is everything you need to know about Tulsa’s new monarchy.
Who’s involved alongside Sylvester Stallone?
The show is brought to you by the aforementioned Stallone (i.e., Rocky and Rambo, but you knew that) and creator Taylor Sheridan, who currently reigns over the Yellowstone kingdom. However, Boardwalk Empire creator Terence Winter acts as showrunner. The cast includes Martin Starr as the owner of the famed dispensary, Jay Will as Stallone’s driver, Andrea Savage, Garrett Hedlund, Dana Delany, Max Casella, Domenick Lombardozzi, Vincent Piazza, A.C. Peterson, and Annabella Sciorra.
What’s going on in this show?
Tulsa King follows Stallone, playing a guy named Dwight “The General†Manfredi — a Mafia man who is released from prison after 25 years and promptly shipped off to Tulsa. Then, realizing that the Mafia he was previously a part of might not have his back, Manfredi puts together a new crew in Tulsa. Based on the trailer, the tone seems to have a bit more comedy than other Sheridan productions, and it is definitely aimed squarely at the “watching in a recliner with a Bud Light†audience. A New York Times piece excerpted dialogue from a scene in the show in which Manfredi gets high: “A phone is a camera!†“And these pronouns. What the [expletive] is with the pronouns?â€â€™ Winter says that the scene isn’t meant to be a comment on “wokeness†but is instead “just in general, about how quickly things change.†And how slowly people don’t.
When and where can we watch?
Tulsa King, a Paramount+ original, premieres on Sunday, November 13, with the following episodes released each Sunday. You can also watch the first two episodes on the Paramount Network (a cable network separate from Paramount+) on November 20, following a new episode of Yellowstone. So buckle up, we’re about to get Tulsa-fied (high on legal marijuana).