Frisco King: Taylor Sheridan’s New Tulsa King Spinoff Is The Pulp Fiction Sequel We Never Got

Published Nov 11, 2026, 6:15 PM EST

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Taylor Sheridan’s new Tulsa King spinoff puts Samuel L. Jackson in charge of his own criminal empire, evoking his iconic Pulp Fiction hitman role. Set to premiere on Friday, December 18, the same day that Tulsa King season 4 will conclude, this new Taylor Sheridan series is the first since Lioness season 3 to be completely written by Sheridan himself. It will also officially bring Samuel L. Jackson into the Sheridan TV universe after his character was introduced in the final two episodes of Tulsa King season 3 alongside Sylvester Stallone.

Taylor Sheridan's upcoming Tulsa King spinoff, Frisco King, stars Samuel L. Jackson as a veteran gangster and former hitman, bringing the actor back to his Pulp Fiction roots. Jackson famously played Jules Winfield in Quentin Tarantino's crime masterpiece Pulp Fiction, a gangster and hitman living in Los Angeles, which creates a spiritual link between this iconic role and his new character, Russell Lee Washington Jr., in Frisco King. While there is no confirmation that Russell and Jules are the same person, Frisco King feels like the Pulp Fiction sequel that fans never got, especially after Tarantino's rumored vision for a Jules Winfield standalone project never came to fruition.

Samuel L. Jackson’s Frisco King Role Revives His Pulp Fiction Roots

Pompo Bresciani / Paramount+

Samuel L. Jackson stars as Russell Lee Washington Jr. in Frisco King, a former assassin who met Stallone's Dwight Manfredi while they were both in federal prison. While Russell's reason for his 10-year prison sentence has yet to be established, he reenters society as a reformed man, leaving his life as a contract killer in organized crime circles behind and adopting a new role as a fixer for various parties.

This is particularly interesting given the ending of Pulp Fiction, in which Jules famously reconsiders his life as a hitman and leaves it all behind after interpreting his survival as an act of divine intervention. Theoretically, Jules may have tried to walk away from his life of crime, only to end up being sucked back in and eventually serving time behind bars, perhaps falling back into "the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men" he spoke of. Given that both Russell and Jules disavow violence, they carry a similar torch in both their storylines.

Jackson played several gangster/hitman characters during the 1990s, including Jules, Ordell Robbie in Jackie Brown, and Stacks Edwards in Goodfellas, but has rarely returned to the archetype since, with the exception of 2017's The Hitman's Bodyguard. His performance as Russell Lee Washington Jr. in Frisco King will mark his long-awaited return to the classic gangster persona, and it will be interesting to see what qualities – both new and familiar – he will bring to the table.

Taylor Sheridan’s Tulsa King Spinoff Gives Jackson His Own Criminal Empire

Emerson Miller / Paramount+

While Russell may have sworn against violence with his own hand in Frisco King, he is still the head of a budding criminal empire, taking notes from Dwight's influence in Tulsa as he sets up shop in East Texas. Instead of taking orders from crime bosses, as Jules did with Marsellus Wallace in Pulp Fiction, Russell will be pulling the strings and calling the shots this time around, which will likely come with his own brand of morality and justice similar to Dwight in Tulsa King. The key difference will likely come down to style and approach, as the teaser trailer for Frisco King already suggests that Russell will be highly charismatic, smooth-talking, and a force to be reckoned with.

Since Dwight saved Russell's life in prison 20 years before the events of Tulsa King, and Russell refused to take a job from the New York mafia to kill Dwight in season 3, it's safe to say that Dwight and Russell will be on good terms in Frisco King, meaning that Russell's new criminal empire will not butt heads with Dwight's various enterprises in Tulsa. Expect Frisco King to follow a similar structure to the early episodes of Tulsa King as Russell settles in, hires loyal associates, and quickly turns hustles into businesses. Given all this, Frisco King looks to be the closest thing to a Pulp Fiction sequel or a Jules Winfield standalone follow-up project that we may ever get, and is sure to be Taylor Sheridan's newest hit this December on Paramount+.

Question 1 of 3

Frisco King

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  Russell Lee Washington Jr.

• 

  Teddy

• 

  Kai Caster

  Keith

• 

  Lilah Pate

  London