‘Tulsa King: Terence Winter Out as Showrunner Ahead of Season 2

Veteran TV writer/producer Terence Winter has stepped down as showrunner for Paramount+’s hit Sylvester Stallone vehicle, Tulsa King — amid “creative differences,” our sister site Deadline reports.

Winter will remain an executive producer on the Taylor Sheridan-created mob drama, which in late November was renewed for Season 2 after just three outings and driving a record number of Paramount+ sign-ups. Sheridan, Stallone, David C. Glasser, Ron Burkle, Bob Yari, David Hutkin, Allen Coulter and Braden Aftergood also serve as EPs. A search for a new showrunner is underway.

Winter — whose previous credentials include Boardwalk Empire (which he created) and The Sopranos (where he was an EP) — detailed in a November 2022 interview how his vision for Tulsa King differed from what Sheridan originally had in mind.

In Sheridan’s version, Stallone’s Dwight Manfredi had been “a low-level bag man” who “had never been to prison,” “didn’t have a family” and who was dispatched to Kansas City “as a reward for a lifetime of service,” Winter told Deadline.

Winter, however, “wanted to explore the idea of a 75-year-old man in the twilight of his years” “who wants to make something of his life.” And that version of Dwight “spent the last 25 years in jail and he’s fully expecting to be rewarded” when he instead gets sent by the boss’ son to Tulsa, which is “more the middle of nowhere” than Kansas City.

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