Father Figure

by Debra Wallace | Nov 26, 2025

At this point in his life, Sylvester Stallone could easily rest on his past accomplishments in show business and relax at his home in Beverly Hills. Instead, Tulsa King, his popular streaming series, takes him to the badlands of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

In Tulsa King, now in its third season, the Rocky and Rambo star is portraying Dwight “The General” Manfredi, a tough and tender patriarch who takes care of his family in a high-stakes Western, cleverly tinged with mob elements.

The series is about second chances, trying not to have regrets, while also maintaining high-stakes drama with numerous fleshed-out characters. Stallone says that his character “is in the hope and redemption business. He has lost his wife, his daughter and everything. So, this entire show is about rebuilding, too.”

The series is so popular that it was renewed for a fourth season, even before the first of the 10 highly dramatic new episodes for the third season premiered on Sept. 21 (2025) on Paramount+.

Stallone is enjoying working with the cast, which also includes Garrett Hedlund, Bella Heathcote, Dana Delany and Neal McDonough.

“I feel like I am kind of a father figure on the set—if you mean that I insert myself into their business,” explains the 79-year-old Stallone, one of Hollywood’s biggest box office draws over a movie career spanning more than 50 years.

“When I see an opportunity where I can perhaps help other actors, I find it satisfying to be both nourishing and therapeutic, to feel as though I know these people much more than just as actors. Quite often you’ll act with somebody for three months and never even have a cup of coffee with them. That’s not my style.”

Clearly, this is something that the cast of the hit Taylor Sheridan series (Yellowstone) believes, who say Stallone cares for everyone around him, both on and off the set of his hit TV series.

This strong family feel also stems from the fact that one of his daughters, Scarlet Rose Stallone, plays Spencer, a horse trainer and casino bartender on the series, and her mom, Stallone’s wife, Jennifer, is also a frequent positive presence on the set.

Tulsa King is the story of Dwight Manfredi, a Mafia bigwig who, in Season 1, is eager to return to his stomping grounds in New York after serving 25 years in prison, only to be exiled to Tulsa. Building a crew out of local eccentrics, who become like a second family, he spends the first two seasons fighting enemies at every turn.

“In Season 3, the story gets a little darker as the odds and what’s at stake are being put more and more on the table, which is a real life-changing moment,” Stallone says.

Season 3 offers up high drama and a lot more villains coming to shake up the lives of Dwight and his team of wayward mob-driven cowboys. Stallone says he looks forward to the tougher scenes.

“When you are dealing with actors like Robert Patrick, James Russo and Samuel L. Jackson, you get nervous, which is a good thing, because you want to bring your A-game,” he explains.

Patrick plays Dwight’s new nemesis, the extremely dangerous Jeremiah Dunmire, who, with his son, Cole, wants to destroy Dwight and all of his business ventures.

Jackson will be introduced in Season 3 as Russell Lee Washington, a gangster and former friend and prison mate of Dwight, who stirs up trouble for him. This is being done to launch Jackson as the main character in a spinoff Paramount+ series, NOLA King, set in New Orleans.

“Now you are elevated to a kind of showdown, like a gunfight, where you’ve got to try to outshoot each other, and that’s where great things happen,” Stallone says.

When asked what kind of father he is to his daughter while she is performing in Tulsa King, he claims that when he tries to give her advice, he will get backlash.

“‘Dad,’ she will say, ‘They don’t act that way anymore. It’s a new kind of acting.’ To which I reply, ‘Scarlet, please give me a break. It hasn’t changed in the thousands of years since Aristotle was going around doing Greek theater.’ So, we’re always having these kinds of little battles, but mostly they’re in fun. You have to imagine the pressure on her. I’m standing on the camera and going to try not to lip-sync her words, but I can’t help it,” he says.

“Scarlet was basically raised on a set. So, she finds that to be enchanting and invigorating, and she’s not shy. I tend to be a bit reserved. She circulates much more than I used to.”

Annabella Sciorra (The Sopranos) portrays Dwight’s supportive ex-wife, who moves to Tulsa and becomes increasingly involved in his various business endeavors.

“I really appreciate the family vibe, and creating a little tribe that continues to work together more than three months doing a play or one month doing a movie,” she says of Tulsa King.

“I enjoy coming back and working with the same people because as friends we evolve and we know each other a little bit better each season, and that translates to the scene with you and the other actors.”

Kevin Pollak plays another new character, Special FBI Agent Musso—an agent with an axe to grind. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel actor says he appreciates being welcomed into the extended family.

“It is a family that I was welcomed into, including the Stallone family,” Pollak says. “His wife, Jennifer, is a wonderful and positive presence on the set, which is unbelievably nurturing and supportive. From my experience, that makes a big difference.”

Delany (China Beach and The Code) portrays Margaret Devereaux, a local ranch owner and Dwight’s girlfriend, who knows that Dwight is a “bad boy,” but this does not prompt her to shy away from him, despite many red flags.

“I think that Margaret is a strong person, especially as a horsewoman from Oklahoma,” she explains. “I don’t think there are a lot of guys like Dwight in the world anymore. Yes, he’s tough, but he meets her equally, and he also has a code. In addition to the gangster code, there is a moral code.”

Adds Delany: “He’s one of those guys who puts his hand on the small of your back when you’re walking into a place, so you always feel protected. All of this is a novel thing these days.”

Delany says it’s clear that Stallone “sets the tone for the series, and is extremely generous in watching out for everyone. He is hyperaware of everything. He never just shows up and does his stuff; he looks around what’s going on and takes in the whole project.”

There is no doubt that Stallone has die-hard fans dating from his Rocky days, (which includes nine Rocky and Creed movies) and now Tulsa King.

In fact, during the movie premiere for Creed in 2015, thousands of fans stood patiently on the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art to catch a glimpse of Stallone. Representing many generations, hundreds of locals were wearing Rocky and Rambo garb as an homage to their favorite actor.

“There was a woman on the set during Season 2 who walked up to Sly and asked him to sign her arm,” recalls Martin Starr, who plays Bodhi, a hippie-turned-cannabis entrepreneur, who is part of Dwight’s loyal crew. “Then she walked across the street and got that autograph permanently tattooed onto her arm.”

It’s also clear that Stallone is extremely proud of Tulsa King and urges new viewers and those who have tuned in from the first episode of Season 1.

“You will be surrounded by excellent character actors who come and go, and they leave their imprint,” Stallone explains.

“Also, the story gets a little darker as the value of what’s on the table leads to a real life-changing moment. You’re going to see things that you haven’t seen before in the other two seasons. It’s just much grittier because of what’s at stake.”

Click here to subscribe to the free digital editions of South Jersey Magazine

To read the digital edition of South Jersey Magazine, click here.

Article continues below

- A Show of Strength

With the state ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic, South Jersey is proving there’s more ways than one to put up a fight.

- Seizing the Moment

After the spring season was canceled last year due to the pandemic, these standout student-athletes from South Jersey are hoping to make the most of their opportunities in 2021.

Published and copyrighted in South Jersey Magazine, Volume 22, Issue 8 (November 2025)

For more info on South Jersey Magazine, click here.
To subscribe to South Jersey Magazine, click here.
To advertise in South Jersey Magazine, click here.

Author: Debra Wallace

Father Figure

Related Articles

Archives