Tulsa King marked an exciting moment in history for Sylvester Stallone as he took on his first ever lead role in a TV series. Stallone plays Dwight Manfredi in the show, a mafia capo who is exiled to Tulsa, Oklahoma to set up shop and earn some money for his New York City crime family. But after arriving, Manfredi starts to release his old business partners may not have his best interests at heart.
Tulsa King was a glaring success and Paramount Plus renewed it for a second season just three episodes into the first season. Sylvester Stallone received heaps of praise for his dramatic turn to TV, delivering a nuanced performance as the polorazing mobster with a proclivity for brutal violence, who also ironically harbours a delicate, caring side. Tulsa King may have given film fanatics a chance to view Stallone in a new arena, but many were disappointed to see he did not return to his most iconic character for Creed 3.
Did The Tulsa King Filming Clash With Creed 3?
Tulsa King shot on location in Oklahoma, allowing its stars to really embody their characters. However, speculation arose that Stallone was missing from Creed 3 due to filming clashes. While Tulsa King had a long, extensive shoot that saw Stallone briefly relocate to Tulsa, there are other factors at play as to why he didn’t return to play his beloved character, Rocky Balboa. While Stallone admitted that he didn’t agree with the vision for Creed 3, this was not the key reason he didn’t appear in the movie.
A Growing Feud May Be Why Rocky Balboa Was Missing From Creed 3
Sylvester Stallone wrote the original script for Rocky back in 1975. A year later, he negotiated a deal to not only pen the script, but play the lead character, Rocky Balboa. The movie went on to win Best Picture at the 1977 Academy Awards, and Stallone was nominated for Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay. He then went on to write five sequels, directing four of them and of course playing the titular character in all of them.
When Ryan Coogler approached Stallone with the script for Creed in 2014, Stallone agreed to play the character one more time, even earning himself another Oscar nomination. Off the back of the success from the film, Stallone returned again for Creed 2. However, he decided to bow out of the third installment due to a feud with producer, Irwin Winkler, over a decades long battle for the rights to the Rocky franchise.
Winkler, who produced all six Rocky films , wanted to maintain control of the franchise while Stallone felt it should be his property. The two went back and forth until finally coming to terms in 2018. Winkler would retain the rights to all six films and Stallone would be granted the ability to make a seventh film if he so desires. Stallone has since hinted at a possible return to the character, and even glimpsed the script to his followers on Instagram. However, he has confirmed that it will consist of a story outside the universe of Creed.
Stallone is set to reprise his role in Tulsa King season 2, and the future for the Creed franchise remains up in the air, despite the success of Creed 3 in 2023.
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