Sylvester Stallone Officially Confirms Why ‘Tulsa King’ Had To Kill Off [SPOILER]

Published Oct 24, 2026, 4:39 AM EDT Sign in to your Collider account [Editor's Note: The following contains spoilers for Tulsa King Season 4, Episodes 1 and 2] Summary Collider's Steve Weintraub talks with Sylvester Stallone for Tulsa King Season 4. Stallone discusses character deaths, Dwight's future, and his hopes for future seasons. He also discusses I Play Rocky and working with Samuel L. Jackson in Frisco King. Paramount+’s Tulsa King is now streaming Season 4 on the heels of its recently announced Season 5 renewal, which means things are falling into place, all according to Academy Award-nominated writer, executive producer, and star Sylvester Stallone’s ultimate plan. In an interview with Collider’s Steve Weintraub, the Hollywood legend himself revealed the map for future seasons, including how he foresees Dwight Manfredi’s story wrapping up. Understanding Stallone’s design for Dwight and his empire all lies in the details behind the scenes. While The General is preoccupied with protecting the family he’s built in Tulsa, new enemies are emerging, and no matter the wins, every loyalty can be called into question, and every bold move comes at a price. While talking with Weintraub, Stallone addressed that cost, which came as two devastating losses for Dwight already, including the death of Thresher (Neal McDonough). He explains the method to his and head writer and EP Terence Winter’s madness — or rather, “the Game of Thrones Syndrome” — but he also reveals the character deaths that could potentially destroy Dwight. Don’t miss the full conversation in the video above, with a transcript provided below, where Stallone discusses Tulsa King’s future, his role in Samuel L. Jackson’s spin-off series with Taylor Sheridan, Frisco King, and his reaction to Peter Farrelly’s biopic drama, I Play Rocky. Sylvester Stallone Says 'I Play Rocky' Turned His Struggle Into an "American Dream" He opens up about his thoughts on the biopic. Image via TIFF COLLIDER: I've told you this in the past, but I'm a huge fan. I just want to thank you for all your years of work and entertaining many millions of people around the world. SYLVESTER STALLONE: I appreciate that. Well, it's definitely been a great voyage. I’m quite privileged to have been afforded this opportunity, so thank you. I was just at the Toronto Film Festival, and I saw a number of movies, but my favorite film was I Play Rocky. I'm sure you must have heard the thunderous ovation that came out of that premiere and the reaction online. Have you seen the movie? And if you have, what were the emotions like watching your story unfold? STALLONE: Well, thank you. I did. I saw it alone, without an audience, which you really get a real impression, because you're not influenced by the sound of anyone else. I thought it was extraordinary. It's very life-affirmative. When I was being that person for real, I never thought of it as something that would be noble or identifiable, and when I see it played out with someone else doing it, I'm going, “This is inspirational,” you know? And I didn't ever say, “Yeah, what I'm doing is inspirational.” I was just trying to get some footage, just trying to survive. But the way they depicted it, they truly made it a, for lack of a better term, this American Dream-type story that seems to have gone into hiding for a while, something so life-affirming. Yeah, it's nice. It's an incredible film. I have some friends who have been in Toronto for a very long time, and they told me that it was the craziest premiere they've ever been a part of, in terms of people applauding and cheering all throughout the movie. STALLONE: Really? That's incredible. Because that's what happens when I'm sitting outside the theater in 1976, and there's 100 people in there, and I'm going, “Why are they yelling?” You can't write that into a screenplay, like, “Okay, here, they're gonna yell.” Now you're telling me a movie about a movie, they're doing the same thing that happened 50 years ago, without any provocation. I'm telling you, the reaction at the premiere was just massive. Why 'Tulsa King' Had to Kill Off Two Major Characters in Season 4 "I'd gone as far as I could with him." Jumping into Tulsa King, I've seen the first three episodes of Season 4, and they're fantastic. It really is ballsy to kill off two main characters in Episode 2. When I was watching, I couldn't believe you guys were doing it. I'm just curious if you could talk about the behind-the-scenes. Was this Terence [Winter]’s idea? Was this your idea? How did this get figured out, that we're gonna make a really big change, and that's gonna propel Season 4? STALLONE: It's like with Adrian. The last thing I wanted to do was kill off my heart with Adrian, but I realized that would drive the whole story, and it would give something with such great gravitas. The audience will identify: “How could you kill her off?” Well, as a writer, I'd gone as far as I could with that relationship. See what I mean? Next they would have been married… Same thing with the governor. With Neal [McDonough], I'd gone as far as I could with him. I didn't realize what else could Dwight do with him? But if you replace those two, now you have another governor who doesn't like me, and she has influences on her that are going to affect my life. In other words, it's gonna screw up everything, which is exactly the kind of conflict I needed. I was now being bombarded. Just when you think you have it together, that's when you never go, “Wow, I made it.” No, you made it for today. Tomorrow, something's gonna walk in that room, and oh my God… Well, that's exactly what happened, so I felt as though we needed new conflict. Then I said, “Wow, how about a different kind of enemy?” You're dealing with a technical genius and billions of dollars; you can never compete with them on that level. But the sneaky, paranoid part of Dwight is he cannot buy into, “This was an accident.” There are too many players just showing up on the heels of these people dying. Now, only he thinks that, but that's that criminal, paranoid brain that sets him apart from other people. Image via Paramount+ It's unusual to kill off two characters, and I'm just curious, how do you work with Terence in terms of figuring out the arc of the season, and has it changed over the years? STALLONE: Well, Terrence is very erudite, extremely bright, a great writer, and I tend to insert myself in my character, because I write for me. I write the dialogue. I've always written my dialogue my whole life. So, Terence will create certain things that I have no knowledge of. He was a lawyer, so when we do court scenes, that's his thing. But he is a big believer in, let me call it the Game of Thrones Syndrome, that people have to disappear, shockingly so, to make it enticing. It's like, “What?” It takes your breath away. “They wouldn't dare do that.” Well, they did it, so stick around. Let's see what's gonna come out of that. So, Terry, believe me, I've had to pull him off of about five guys. There'd be no one left. He's really very good at creating new characters that replace old ones, but I have a difference in opinion in some things. I've seen that too many times. It would be nice if Dwight is able to shepherd this group of misfits and keep them alive. That's his gift, instead of just whacking them, because I can't replace them. I can't replace Bigfoot. I can’t. You know what I mean? I wanted this weird kind of character. I can't do Bodhi — impossible to replace. Here's the thing, and I'll leave it at that: Once you whack someone that is, not like what we did this time, but someone that's really deeply close to Dwight, he can never recover, really, from that. There's gonna be tremendous angst and anger and revenge and depression, which I have for a couple of episodes, but if you do that too many times, my God, I think the audience will go, “Shit, man, I really like that guy.” You know? It will depress them. I'm a big believer that if you're gonna whack someone… Listen, I'm still mad that I killed off Apollo Creed. I wish I'd put Mickey on life support, you know? I'm serious! Because you can't replace that ensemble. It's very delicate. It's like, “Oh, let's get rid of Mick Jagger.” Well, guess what? Can't replace him. I will also say, though, that what you do in Episode 2, it really does make the audience wonder who else could go, and it really does add a lot of dramatic friction. The first three episodes are really good. Sylvester Stallone Already Knows How He Wants Dwight's Story to End He also reveals how many seasons he wants to make. Image via Paramount+ You're now four seasons in, and it's your first leading role on a TV show. It's a huge hit. Have you already started thinking about, ultimately, where you want Dwight's journey to end? Have you figured that out? And ultimately, in a dream world, how many seasons would Tulsa King go for? STALLONE: I'd say six in the dream world. Six. That would make me, like, 81, and that's amazing, because this show makes me feel younger, because you have to work so hard, and your brain is on fire constantly, as opposed to sitting home, atrophying behind a fishing rod — nothing against fishermen, but this is what keeps me young. Everything ends dour, especially with a gangster. They go insane, Al Capone, this guy gets shot… No. I believe that he has a good finale. One that says, “As bad as I was, I did enough good things to counter that.” There was a famous gangster named Owney Madden, who was 10,000 times worse than Al Capone, and finally, he realized his days were numbered. He went to a place called Hot Springs, Arkansas, in 1925, became the mayor and lived a life, and built a gangster's museum. I mean, we actually shot a few episodes about that. But I think that if you're smart, you can do that. It's happened a few times. Frank Costello. They know. It’s like an athlete; you're gonna get it if you don't leave, or you're gonna be the same, like Quiet Ray, or you just belong to this horrible, stupid, the same shit over and over until you're 85, and you die, and you're buried in some dump. No. I just see Dwight accomplishing, taking care of his little family, and then figuring something else out. But no, I'm very opposed to heroes dying. I just don't like it. What did you want to explore with Dwight in Season 4 that you hadn't explored in the first three seasons? Because for me, it's really an emotional side of Dwight that we don't see. How important was it for you to do something new with Dwight? STALLONE: I did. Well, that's why with Dwight, he is gonna be approached by some very, very serious adversaries, and Dwight is going to be pushed in a way that he's truly going to be challenged on every level — from the gangsters in New York, from local hitmen, and interestingly enough, from AI technology. So, it isn't as though he's trying to accomplish something. I was trying to make his life much more difficult than it had been the season before. You've played Dwight for four seasons now. What do you understand about him today that perhaps you didn't know when you shot the pilot? STALLONE: That he really did develop into this philosophical villain, that he actually sees the goodness. He really is pro-life. He never had a real family, so this group congeals around him in a way that they're like his children. Especially in Season 5, which is starting pretty soon, this is gonna be very, very important, this whole family aspect. It's gonna be incredible, because we're going to go somewhere… I don't want to give it away, but it's going to be a big transition in [Season] 5. Sylvester Stallone Reveals His Role in 'Tulsa King' Spin-Off 'Frisco King' "You better be on your game​​​​​​," he says of reuniting with Samuel L. Jackson. With the Tulsa King spin-off, Frisco King, arriving next year, does Dwight make an appearance? Are you in an episode or more than that? STALLONE: I am in two and a half episodes. What was that like getting to work with Sam Jackson again? STALLONE: You know, Sam, it's kind of like two racers in identical cars going at the same speed. You don't feel you're superior, or you're working with a neophyte, or someone who's green. You got a guy here that's had 50 years' experience, so it's kind of like Muhammad Ali and Joe Fraser. You better be on your game, or you're gonna get punched out. Tulsa King Season 4 is now streaming on Paramount+. Episodes will release weekly. Release Date November 13, 2022 Network Paramount+ Showrunner Dave Erickson, Terence Winter Cast Dwight 'The General' Manfredi Lawrence 'Bodhi' Geigerman Directors Allen Coulter, Benjamin Semanoff, David Semel, Guy Ferland, Joshua Marston, Kevin Dowling, Lodge Kerrigan, Jim McKay Writers Joseph Riccobene, David Flebotte, William Schmidt, Taylor Elmore, Tom Sierchio, Regina Corrado, Stephen Scaia, Terence Winter Creator(s) Taylor Sheridan