Sylvester Stallone on Shaping Dwight Manfredi and His Tulsa King Partnership With Taylor Sheridan

Stallone’s control over Dwight’s voice

The division of writing duties on Tulsa King gives Sylvester Stallone unusual control over Dwight Manfredi’s voice. Stallone writes his own dialogue; Terry Winter writes for the other characters, while creator Taylor Sheridan lets the show develop its own identity. That split gives the lead actor a direct hand in how Dwight sounds without making him responsible for the whole cast’s dialogue. It also draws a line between shaping one central character and directing the series’ broader writing.

That distinction matters because a character’s voice is more than a collection of punchlines or memorable phrases. It includes rhythm, attitude, and the way a person reacts when a scene turns serious. An actor who knows how a role feels in performance may hear problems on the page that are harder to spot in a quiet room. Stallone’s arrangement with Winter gives him room to address those moments while leaving the other characters’ writing with its own author.

It’s an unusual arrangement, but it has a clear logic: the actor closest to Dwight can adjust Dwight’s words, while the show’s other writers retain their own territory. This is more significant than it looks. In a series built around a distinctive lead, small choices in dialogue can shape whether the character feels consistent from scene to scene.

A relationship with history

The arrangement reflects a working relationship built on trust and a shared history. Speaking to Radio Times ahead of season 4, Stallone recalled knowing Sheridan before he became a writer. They crossed paths in California, where Sheridan rode horses and Stallone kept some of his own. That detail doesn’t establish how the show’s creative partnership works day to day, but it does put their connection earlier than the series itself.

“It’s a very unique relationship Taylor and I have,” Stallone said. “Little did I know we would cross paths. You just never know.”

There’s a gap between an old acquaintance and a successful television collaboration. Stallone’s account suggests that the two men’s paths crossed before either could know what the later working relationship might become. It also helps explain why the show’s creative structure may feel comfortable to them: they aren’t building a professional rapport from scratch. Still, the practical measure is what ends up on screen, where the balance between a lead actor’s instincts and a writer’s plans has to work in individual scenes.

A writing process built around performance

Stallone said the writers give him room to shape Dwight, while he makes adjustments when dialogue doesn’t feel natural to perform. He described the process as a way to keep each writer’s role intact while making the scenes work aloud. The distinction is practical: a line can make sense on the page and still sound awkward when an actor has to deliver it in character.

“You don’t want to neuter other people and step on their territory and their domain,” he said. “Sometimes, writers aren’t actors, and sometimes they’ll write things and you’re like, ‘Why don’t you try and say that?’ So I will smooth things out when I need to, and it works really well.”

Here’s the thing: rewriting a line in rehearsal or during production can be useful, but it can also blur who is responsible for the finished scene. Stallone’s description presents the process as a negotiated adjustment, not a wholesale takeover. He talks about smoothing things out when needed and explicitly says he doesn’t want to undermine other writers. That matters because collaborative writing depends on boundaries as much as it depends on ideas.

The actor’s ear is one part of the process. A writer’s sense of the scene and its surrounding story is another. When those perspectives meet, dialogue can become more speakable without losing the purpose it had on the page. And yet, the approach still depends on trust: the people involved have to accept that a change to one line can affect the feel of an exchange, and that preserving a character’s voice doesn’t automatically make every proposed adjustment the right one.

If you’re working in this space, the useful point is how clearly the responsibilities are described. Stallone focuses on Dwight; Winter writes the other characters; Sheridan allows the show to find its own course. That division doesn’t guarantee every scene will land, but it gives the collaboration a defined shape. A working method, not a promise of perfect dialogue.

Sheridan, who built his television profile with Paramount’s Yellowstone universe, has a broad slate of projects to oversee. Stallone said Sheridan allows Tulsa King to find its own course, while Stallone and Winter handle distinct parts of the dialogue. That gives some context for Sheridan’s role: the show’s creator can set its direction while the dialogue work is divided between people with different responsibilities. The available account doesn’t spell out how that oversight works in practice, so the clearest evidence is Stallone’s description of the arrangement.

Stallone has an opinion on Dwight’s fate

Stallone also has a clear preference for how Dwight’s story should end: he doesn’t want the character to die. Whether the series follows that wish remains open, but season 5 has been confirmed, leaving more room for Dwight’s story to unfold. The preference is revealing because it puts the actor’s attachment to the role alongside his influence over its dialogue. It doesn’t mean he controls the ending, and the source offers no indication that the character’s fate has been decided.

That said, the confirmed continuation changes the immediate question from how Dwight’s story ends to what the series does with the time it has. More episodes create room for the character’s choices and relationships to develop, though they don’t tell viewers what direction the story will take. Stallone’s wish gives fans a clear signal about his own preference. The eventual outcome remains in the hands of the show’s story.

(And this is the part most people overlook.) An actor’s preference can shape discussion around a character without settling the character’s fate. Keeping those two things separate helps explain what Stallone’s comments do and don’t establish: he has a voice in how Dwight speaks, and he has an opinion about how Dwight’s story should end. Those are meaningful forms of involvement, but they aren’t the same as having final control over the series.

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