Tulsa King: Why Sylvester Stallone Made the Jump to Television

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But while the premise worked, Stallone, also being an Academy Award nominated writer, felt the story and the character of Manfredi wasn’t quite there. Stallone, naturally, became an executive producer on the show, and together, he, Sheridan, and showrunner Terence Winter began to mold Manfredi into something new.

Stallone reveals that in the original iteration, Manfredi was much more of a thug. One of the great surprises within Tulsa King is that it is more lighthearted and comedic at times than originally suspected, but it could have been a much darker path, arguably more akin to other Sheridan created shows, if Stallone hadn’t have influenced the character. Stallone describes the original script, and what the prologue of the show was intended to be.

“In the opening scene [Manfredi] was angrier,” Stallone says. “He shoots a mirror out by accident, he starts to threaten his neighbors, and then he heads out [to Tulsa] and he starts to take over strip joints by hitting guys in the head. That’s not cool at all. I didn’t like that. So we added the aspect of how he’s been in prison, how he kept his mouth shut and how he was loyal.”

That loyalty, and the strangely reflective mobster Stallone portrays endears Tulsa King audiences to Manfredi fairly quickly, and that was naturally, by design.

Stallone has built the “House of Sly” on the backs of some of the toughest characters ever put to film, but as the actor gets older, he not only accepts his age, but has seemingly embraced exactly who he is. Coincidentally, that is arguably the biggest reason why he made the jump to television. Stallone along with Sheridan and Winter have forged an erudite, witty mobster with a contemplative manner and a real sense of humor. If it were to remain an angry or broken down old gangster, Stallone has indicated he wouldn’t be interested.

“I’ve played the serious role. I can be as dark as you can possibly want, but I want to be other things. This is refreshing in a way that you have a guy who actually doesn’t want to hurt anybody.”