Tulsa King returns to Paramount+ on Friday, October 16, 2026, leaving its familiar Sunday slot behind. Season 4 will run for 10 weekly episodes, with a finale expected December 18, giving viewers a new routine for following Dwight Manfredi’s next fight.
“There will be a dinosaur” was Sylvester Stallone’s tease about Tulsa King’s fourth season, as reported by meaww.com in 2026. It is a strange note for a crime drama whose trailer finds Dwight Manfredi threatening retribution. The remark leaves open what Stallone meant, and how a dinosaur might fit into Dwight’s hard-edged world.
Terence Winter’s return gives the new season a creative story of its own
Dwight’s next fight raises a long-running question about who steers the series. Terence Winter left the showrunner role after season 1, and season 2 went without a showrunner. Dave Erickson led season 3 before moving to Mayor of Kingstown. Winter has now returned as head writer and executive producer, bringing a familiar voice back to a production that has changed hands several times.
The transition was turbulent. During production in Atlanta in November 2025, more than two dozen crew members were let go, and no distinct showrunner was in place at the time. Viewers had kept coming: the season 2 premiere drew 5.4 million viewers, while that season earned a 100% Rotten Tomatoes score. We think Winter’s return deserves attention precisely because the audience held steady through those leadership changes.
Dwight’s expanding empire brings familiar faces and a new regular
Dwight is trying to legitimize his operation, according to the season 4 description. Corrupt politicians and dangerous new enemies stand in his way, alongside a crushing personal loss. In the October 2026 official trailer, Stallone as Dwight Manfredi gives that conflict blunt vocabulary: “If I find out whose fault this is, bad things are going to happen to bad people.”
Gretchen Mol joins as series regular Amanda Clark, while Kevin Pollak is also part of the cast. Martin Starr, Jay Will, Frank Grillo and Garrett Hedlund return, as do Dana Delany, Annabella Sciorra, James Russo and Neal McDonough. That crowded circle gives Dwight plenty of relationships to manage before he can make his empire look legitimate. Pollak, for his part, has teased a season of “violence, death, and Sly.”
A season 3 character now leads a spinoff beyond Tulsa
Dwight’s story has already sent another character toward a separate series. Samuel L. Jackson played hitman Russell Lee Washington Jr., known as Lee, in season 3. Jackson will reprise the role in Frisco King, which follows Lee to Frisco, Texas. The Paramount+ spinoff will have eight episodes written by Taylor Sheridan. It extends a character introduced in Dwight’s orbit without asking the new season to carry his entire next chapter.
The next chapter still has unanswered questions
A season 5 writers’ room reportedly opened in June 2026, although Paramount+ has not formally announced a renewal. Stallone’s dinosaur remark remains equally open to interpretation. For now, the trailer’s threats and the official description point to familiar crime-drama territory. The odd tease makes good publicity, but it offers little basis for judging the episodes ahead. We think the reported possibility of moving filming from Atlanta to New York gives the unconfirmed fifth season a more concrete direction.
