In a strange turn of unexpected events, writer/producer Terence Winter is returning for season two of “Tulsa King,” Paramount’s crime series starring Sylvester Stallone, a year to the month that he left. Amid reports of creative differences with Taylor Sheridan—the show’s creator who admitted he had trouble delegating and letting hired showrunner run their series— Winter stepped down from “Tulsa King” not long after season one finished its run (it took eight long months to be officially picked up for season two).
Apparently, whatever drama has formed between them has mended, sort of. THR reports that Winter is returning as a writer, as he has a strong relationship with Stallone, but not as a traditional showrunner, which will give him buffer room and space from Sheridan, which sounds like these two men still have creative differences. Evidently, the show will do away with a traditional showrunner role.
‘Tulsa King’: Terence Winter Talks The “Free Reign” Given From Taylor Sheridan & How The Sylvester Stallone Mob Series Won’t Connect To ‘Yellowstone’ [Bingeworthy Podcast]
The writer’s room is back up and running, which is ironic, considering Sheridan has often voiced his distaste for writer’s rooms, preferring to be a one-man band himself (The freedom of the artist to create must be unfettered,” he said in a criticism of writer’s rooms last year). But with half a dozen shows on the air and more in development, Sheridan has often been stretched too thin and has had to try to delegate.
“Tulsa King” follows the exploits of a New York mafia capo (Stallone) who is exiled to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he builds a new criminal empire with a group of unlikely characters (read our season one review here).
“Tulsa King” seemingly had a lot of issues from the start, with Stallone claiming he wrote some of the show’s dialogue himself and then suggesting he himself may not return for season two (“It’s beyond tough. I can’t believe some people have done this for four, five or six seasons. It’s brutal, compared to filmmaking,” he said just as the show was first airing on Paramount+).
In our season one interview with Winter, he said Sheridan had given him “free reign” to do what he wanted creatively on the show. “I pitched all of this to Taylor, and he said, ‘Great! Go do your thing. It’s your baby. I just have visitation rights.’ And I did—I literally have only spoken to Taylor twice in my entire life. I had that Zoom call [to pitch the show], and then I met him in person right before we started production. We had a great dinner, and then I went off and did my thing.”
Clearly, something changed afterward, and one has to wonder if a) Sheridan is learning to pick his battles or b) just how long this will all last. That said, maybe it wouldn’t be a proper Sheridanverse series if it didn’t have its own behind-the-scenes drama.