Tulsa King Switches Genres With Major Season 5 Shift

Published Oct 19, 2026, 7:30 PM EDT

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Taylor Sheridan and Sylvester Stallone's Tulsa King is preparing to make a major change in genres in the upcoming fifth season. Though Tulsa King season 4 has only just begun, Tulsa King season 5 has already been confirmed. That's likely due to some good reviews for Tulsa King season 4, healthy viewership, and the all-star cast of Tulsa King led by Sylvester Stallone as Dwight "The General" Manfredi.

Another big reason Paramount+ has already renewed Tulsa King season 5 is because the show has a proven formula that works very well. For four seasons now, since 2022, Tulsa King has been telling pretty much the same story. Dwight, a fish-out-of-water New York mobster, builds his criminal empire in Oklahoma. New seasons bring new villains, new industries for Dwight to infiltrate, and new challenges, but the overall formula remains the same.

Tulsa King has, at least partially, thrived because it stays the same. While that doesn't make for groundbreaking television, it does mean viewers know what to expect out of the show. Even when it takes a chance, like the premiere of Tulsa King season 4 killing off major characters, fans know that Tulsa King will continue providing laughs, cool action, and charismatic performances. That commitment to the show's formula has been a key to Tulsa King's success, which is why it's so surprising that season 5 is set to flip the show's very genre on its head.

Moving To New York Completely Changes Tulsa King's Genre

Steve Swisher/Paramount+

Even before it was officially renewed, it was announced that Tulsa King season 5 would be moving to New York, switch from the show's namesake, Tulsa, Oklahoma. That change was reportedly due to a creative choice rather than a financial one, though New York does offer some alluring tax incentives to production companies. It's not yet clear why Tulsa King is moving to New York, but it is clear that it's a sign the show's genre is changing.

So much of Tulsa King's formula and story so far has been tied to Tulsa. The entire premise of the show was that Dwight was banished to Tulsa, after all. Tulsa is the reason Dwight started his independent crime organization in the first place, his status as a newcomer was a source of many conflicts with villains like Cal Thresher and Bill Bevilaqua, and his independence even created strife with New York mobsters like Chickie Invernizzi and Quiet Ray. Watching Dwight be a fish out of water and go from New York mobster to Tulsa nobody was a big draw for the series, at least initially.

Simply put, Tulsa is a core part of Tulsa King's identity. Moving to New York is going to change the series on a fundamental level. Dwight won't be a fish out of water anymore, as he was born and raised in New York. Tulsa King won't have the charm of taking place in the South, either, and it also won't have an excuse to introduce new Southern villains, like Jeremiah Dunmire from season 3. Tulsa King's setting made it unique; now that season 5 is taking place in New York, it's going to feel much more like an urban crime series akin to The Godfather or The Sopranos.

Again, it's not clear why Tulsa King season 5 is moving to New York yet, but the most likely explanation also hints that the show is switching genres. Given Dwight's tension with Quiet Ray, the most likely reason he'd move to New York is to go head-to-head with him in a struggle for control of the city's organized crime. If that proves true, Dwight won't be an underdog building an operation from scratch, he'll be a Michael Corleone type, trying to usurp the powers that be and take control of an existing crime empire. In short, this move to New York stands to change everything.

New York Isn't The Only Major Change Coming To Tulsa King

Image via MovieStillsDB

Moving from Tulsa to New York also isn't the only big change on the horizon for Tulsa King. In addition to the change in Dwight's story, Tulsa King is also poised to become a franchise thanks to Frisco King, a spinoff series focusing on Samuel L. Jackson's character, mob hitman Russell Lee Washington Jr. As the trailer for Frisco King already hinted at, Dwight is going to have some role to play in Lee's story, which will in turn influence Tulsa King.

Tulsa King Season 4 Release Schedule
Episode #	Release Date (Fridays @ 3 a.m. ET on Paramount+)
1	October 16
2	October 23
3	October 30
4	November 6
5	November 13
6	November 20
7	November 27
8	December 4
9	December 11
10	December 18

The details aren't clear yet, but it looks like Dwight is going to be acting as a kind of mentor to Lee as he starts establishing his own mob in Texas. That role would change Tulsa King's genre even further; instead of being a show about Dwight running a crime family from the ground up, he's taking on an advisory role and essentially delegating an entire city to someone else. It's the opposite of the independent gangster he started Tulsa King as.

Dwight, by virtue of Frisco King, is going to become the head of an entire crime family, albeit not one related by blood. That brings Tulsa King even closer to The Godfather in the spectrum of gangster thrillers and even further away from its own roots. Even if Frisco King wasn't changing Dwight's role as a gangster, the show itself would still be changing Tulsa King. Now, the show isn't just a standalone series about Dwight, it's the original series in a burgeoning franchise. Between Frisco King and a move to New York, Tulsa King is starting to become unrecognizable.

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  Dwight 'The General' Manfredi

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  Martin Starr

  Lawrence 'Bodhi' Geigerman