Source: Entertainment Weekly

The success of Sylvester Stallone’s Tulsa King proves yet again the dramatic potential of throwing a stranger into a strange land.

The Paramount+ crime series, created by Yellowstone mastermind Taylor Sheridan, stars Stallone as Dwight “The General” Manfredi, an aging gangster who, after serving 25 years in prison, is ferried off to Tulsa, Okla., to build a criminal enterprise from scratch. As he attempts to make heads and tails of an unfamiliar world, he cobbles together a ragtag group of local ne’er-do-wells and mafiosos to help manifest his vision.

It’s a simple premise that’s easily replicable, which is why a New Orleans-set spinoff is in the works at Paramount+ with another heavy hitter in Samuel L. Jackson. The spinoff, titled NOLA King, was first teased in 2024 by Tulsa King executive producer Terence Winter, and Jackson became attached to the project in June 2025.

It was officially announced by Paramount+ the following month, with the streamer revealing that the third season of Tulsa King would introduce Jackson’s Russell Lee Washington Jr., the protagonist of NOLA King.

So, how did Tulsa King set up NOLA King? What has Jackson said about the project? And when does it come out? Below is everything we know about NOLA King.

NOLA King will center on Russell Lee Washington Jr., a hitman in his golden years who, like his pal Dwight, hopes to start a new chapter in an unfamiliar city. Though Lee grew up in New Orleans, he hasn’t returned in more than four decades. As with Tulsa King, the clash of tradition and modernity will no doubt make itself known.

“Inspired by what Dwight created in Tulsa and impressed with the possibilities of second chances, Washington returns to New Orleans, the home he abandoned forty-years ago, to rekindle his relationship with his family and friends, and to take control of the city he left behind,” reads the official synopsis. “In so doing, he incurs the wrath of his former employers in New York, and makes himself vulnerable to old NOLA foes, both criminal and cop.”

In a statement, Stallone said the spinoff elevates Tulsa King “beyond a mob boss series, creating a dynamic, family-driven franchise,” adding that “Sam Jackson is the only choice to anchor this new adventure in NOLA.”

Jackson’s seasoned hitman was introduced in the penultimate episode of Tulsa King’s third season. After performing a hit for Quiet Ray (James Russo), head of the the powerful Renzetti crime family, he’s ordered to take out Dwight. Since he’s in debt to Quiet Ray, Lee is told he doesn’t have a choice.

But when Lee arrives in Tulsa, he can’t bring himself to kill Dwight, who saved his life when the pair were in prison many years back. His refusal to perform the hit puts him at odds with Quiet Ray, who sends a fresh pair of hitman to Tulsa to take out both Dwight and Lee. The old pals get the jump on the hitmen, and an invigorated Lee later volunteers to help the General in his feud with local liquor magnate Jeremiah Dunmire (Robert Patrick).

After taking out Dunmire, Lee considers his future. “Seeing what you’ve done here makes me want to go back to New Orleans and maybe start something new,” he says. “If the General can do it, how hard could it be?”

Knowing the Renzettis are hot on his trail, Lee departs for New Orleans, where he grew up. And should any of Dwight’s crew pass through the Big Easy? Well, they should hit him up. We love a crossover.

Speaking with Collider over the summer, Jackson opened up about joining a Sheridan-produced show. The actor noted that he’s a fan of the creator’s ever-growing slate of series for Paramount+, which, in addition to Yellowstone and its many spinoffs, include Mayor of Kingstown and Landman.

“At least 15 of those shows are on my watchlist all the time, so I’m really happy to be in that universe,” he said. “I watched Tulsa King, and I liked it even before that idea came up.”

That was still very early in the development of the series, though, when he didn’t even know that his character’s name is Lee. “I don’t know anything about it, but I do know that I’m very anxious to jump into it and find out what it’s going to be,” he explained.

In a November 2025 chat with Jimmy Kimmel Live, he declared his desire for the show to actually shoot in New Orleans, noting that tax incentives might have NOLA King filming elsewhere. “Why you tryin’ to work cheap?” he asked. “Let’s go to New Orleans!”

An official cast has yet to be announced by Paramount+, but we know that Jackson will lead the series as Lee, a hitman for the mob who wants to carve out a new path in his golden years.

Like Stallone, this will be the actor’s first headlining role on a TV series. “I guess he got to the point that I did that he’s done pretty much everything,” Stallone told PEOPLE in September 2025. “But at this age in life, you want to be a little bit more grounded, steady, have your own show so you develop this thing, really flesh it out instead of working someplace for 10 days or a gig here and there.”

While we don’t know who will be joining Lee in New Orleans, the character’s appearance on Tulsa King makes it clear that his feud with Quiet Ray and the Renzetti crime family is far from over. We wouldn’t be surprised if Russo’s crime boss casts a long shadow over the events of the show.

When does NOLA King come out?
A release date for the show has yet to be revealed, but Deadline reported in July 2025 that the plan was for filming to begin in February 2026.

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