Taylor Sheridan Crime Show's "Completely Alien" New Era Teased By Showrunner

EXCLUSIVE: Taylor Sheridan's crime show is turning the page.

Tulsa King is about to enter a "completely alien" new era according to showrunner Terence Winter, who unpacks what to expect from the next season of the crime drama. Tulsa King season 4 is currently airing Fridays on Paramount+, seeing Dwight Manfredi (Sylvester Stallone) and his crew targeted by the new Governor of Oklahoma, Amanda Clark (Gretchen Mol), for his previous criminal activity. Season 5 has already been confirmed, alongside a major location change: filming will take place in New York City, where the upcoming season will be set.

In an interview with Liam Crowley for Tulsa King season 4, Winter unpacked the show's move to New York City in season 5, and what it will mean for Dwight and his crew. Without giving away how the series' focus shifts, the showrunner confirms Dwight will be bringing his Tulsa crew to the city with him, calling it a "reverse fish out of water" story. He also explained how the dynamic will change money-wise for the crew, too, who will have to earn even more to maintain the success of their operations due to cost of living.

Check out what Winter had to say below:

Liam Crowley: We know that season five is going to New York City. We've seen so far in this season that seeds are being planted for that move to happen. Some fans were a little hesitant that the show could lose its magic by leaving Tulsa. Can you alleviate some of our fears that transitions?

Terence Winter: Absolutely. We're somewhere heading toward the midpoint of shooting the season, and it's so exciting taking these characters and doing a reverse fish out of water. So we've got all these people from Oklahoma now in New York City, a completely alien place for them. You've also got Dwight, who is coming home, but he's coming home to a place that is not the place he left. He was there until, let's say, 1990-ish, when he went away to jail and then moved to Oklahoma. So the New York he's coming back to is very different from the New York he left. People who were there don't really remember him. There are a lot of young people who were in jail when they were growing up. Even though these are the people who he works with and some of whom work for him, his real family are the people from Oklahoma.

It's a really interesting dynamic just in terms of the look of the show, taking these characters and seeing them with a backdrop of seeing them out on the Brooklyn waterfront with Manhattan in the background or the Brooklyn Bridge or just in the streets or in and around places in Brooklyn is just such a breath of fresh air visually. It's just really stunning. It looks great. Having an organized crime show set in New York is great, but having an organized crime show with people from Oklahoma in New York City is even better. I couldn't be happier with how it's going.

Liam Crowley: Just wait till Dwight sees those rent prices. They're not 1990s.

Terence Winter: Yeah, we touched on that. It's like a real shock. A couple of thousand dollars goes a long way in Tulsa, but not so much in New York City.

Although it's unclear for now why Tulsa King's characters end up in New York City, there have already been some hints as to what it may entail. Since season 3, the capo Quiet Ray (James Russo) has been a prevailing threat for Dwight and his crew, operating out of New York City but still having a pervasive presence on the show. His involvement in the series has started to grow in season 4, with Bill Bevilaqua (Frank Grillo) now playing both sides of the aisle, something that more readily ties the Tulsa operations to the Big Apple.

Dwight is currently facing many troubles in Tulsa that have stalled his business, all thanks to Clark's targeting of everything he owns. Since the show still has six episodes left before season 4 comes to a close, there's no telling how much more intense things are going to get before the season ends. But, since Tulsa King season 5 will be switching things up by taking place in New York City instead, it seems like the situation in Oklahoma is about to get very dire for the crew.

Steve Swisher/Paramount+

Tulsa King season 5 isn't the only forthcoming installment of the TV franchise that will see a major change in location. Samuel L. Jackson is set to star in the forthcoming Frisco King spinoff series, which sees him reprise his role as Russell Lee Washington Jr. from Tulsa King season 3. The show, which starts on December 18, 2026, will provide another lens into the series' criminal world, helping to usher in great change to the franchise that will begin once the main show's location shifts.

For now, though, there's still over half of Tulsa King season 4 left to air, meaning it's still unknown how and why Dwight takes his crew to New York City. Based on Winter's statement, though, it'll be a very different type of story in contrast to how the crime series has approached itself before. But with that change will also come new storytelling opportunities that will bolster the series in completely new ways.

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  Dwight 'The General' Manfredi

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  Martin Starr

  Lawrence 'Bodhi' Geigerman