We look at plot elements, rumors, cast announcements for the third and fourth season of Taylor Sheridan’s Oklahoma-set crime drama.
What Do We Know About the upcoming third season of Tulsa King? More than you may think. The Taylor Sheridan-produced series has been a hit for Paramount+, and with Yellowstone ending, the Oklahoma-set Tulsa King returning for a third year is good news. So, let’s dive in and take a look at what Sylvester Stallone and his crime crew will be coming up with this year.
Sylvester Stallone has “confirmed” Season 3.
Usually, we kick off articles like this once a series has been officially greenlit. Still, it seems almost sure that Tulsa King will return for a third season, thanks to star Sylvester Stallone bragging about it on social media. With the record-breaking premiere numbers for season two, Stallone took to Instagram where he wrote, “I am elated and so proud of our cast because our show has gone up 75% over last year, which is unheard of, and Season 2 got 100% on ROTTEN TOMATOES!” Stallone said. “Als,o it’s the Second most popular show in the WORLD across all streaming services! Thank you so much. We are working on the third season at the moment.”
Stallone is working on a two-season deal with Paramount.
Deadline reported in November 2024 that the Tulsa King star was negotiating for a new contract extension that would put the Rocky and Rambo icon back in Tulsa as Dwight Manfredi. The deal reportedly includes a pay bump for the Italian Stallion that would double his per-episode pay from $750,000 to $1.5 million. That equates to about fifteen million per season if they keep the ten-episode count that comprised the second season.
The series could conclude with Season 4. Or Not.
You may wonder if the two-season contract means that Tulsa King will conclude with season four. The answer is…maybe. With the recent high-profile production issues on Yellowstone that led to the fifth season becoming the final for the Montana cowboy drama, Taylor Sheridan and Paramount could be preparing their endgame for Tulsa King. Or, they could take it two years at a time and revisit Sylvester Stallone’s contract. The actor would be over 80 years old by the fourth season of Tulsa King and may not want to continue leading a series, so the plan could present an opportunity to set up spin-offs or expansions of the series beyond Stallone’s involvement.
The series will have many plots to build on from the Season Two finale.
The second season of Tulsa King ended on November 17, 2024, with some big plot threads wrapped up and other cliffhangers dangling. In the finale, Dwight had a final showdown with nemesis Cal Thresher (Neal McDonough) but let his adversary live. After Cal attempted to destroy Dwight by fixing his trial or attacking his wind farm, it was an intriguing development for the mobster to let his foe stay alive. It also was a wise decision as the death of a prominent businessman would not have been easy to hide. With his Kansas City for Bill Bevilacqua (Frank Grillo), another enemy he needed to face off with, Dwight found an unexpected ally as Bill killed Dwight’s boss, Chickie Invernizzi. It was a shocking twist, but it was one that set up some more great interaction between Dwight and Bill in the third season. That leads us to the biggest question of all.
Who kidnapped Dwight?
In the final moments of the finale, Dwight is ambushed when a team of mercenaries descends upon Margaret Deveraux’s (Dana Delaney) home and kidnaps Dwight. Sitting at an interrogation table, the unseen kidnappers tell Dwight that he works for them now without revealing their identities. Could this be another crime syndicate? Could it be the US Government led by Dwight’s former lover? Or could it be Bill and the Kansas City Mafia? This will be the biggest question leading into Season 3.
Who is returning for Season 3, and who is joining the cast?
We can expect most of the cast to return, including Garrett Hedlund as Mitch Keller, Andrea Savage as Stacy Beale, Jay Will as Tyson, Martin Starr as Bodhi, Max Casella as Armand Truisi, Dana Delaney as Margaret, along with Frank Grillo and Neal McDonough. Season two saw Annabella Sciorra and Tatiana Zappardino in more substantial roles, which could continue in season three. Which new actors could join the cast remains to be seen.
A Spin-off is already in development.
While Dwight has been trying to fix his past mistakes over the first two seasons and has vowed to go legit leading into season three, the end of the series may be coming sooner rather than later. A key line of dialogue in the second season claimed that Dwight and Bill could franchise their gangs to other states, leading to all sorts of spin-offs. This could also be the direction that writer Terence Winter teased when he mentioned a potential New Orleans-set spin-off. Could there be a Louisiana King coming soon?
When will we see it?
Production on the second season of Tulsa King began in April 2024, and the season premiered in September. If Taylor Sheridan and Paramount want to shrink our two-year window between the first and second seasons, the earliest they could begin production would be the middle of 2025, giving a potential fall premiere date some credibility. I would say it is more likely we will see the third season in 2026. The production could also film seasons three and four back to back to limit downtime for Sylvester Stallone and the cast and spread the two seasons over the next couple of years, but stay tuned as we hear more in the months to come.
Stay tuned to JoBlo.com as we learn more about the third season of Tulsa King and all of your other favorite shows. What do you expect to see in the upcoming Tulsa King season? Let us know in the comments, click like, and subscribe to follow all of our latest original videos.
