Why Roxy From Tulsa King Looks So Familiar
The first season of Taylor Sheridan's "Tulsa King," starring Sylvester Stallone, came chock-full of conflict, crime, and fascinating characters — like unexpected biker gang ally and secret ATF informant Rochelle "Roxy" Harrison, who is played by an actor that many people might recognize.
Wrapping up in early January, "Tulsa King" saw Stallone's Dwight "The General" Manfredi making a move to Oklahoma after receiving unwanted orders from his New York mob boss. Dwight, who is fresh out of prison following a 25-year stint for murder, ultimately makes the best of his fish-out-of-water situation and finds himself on top of things by season's end. Roxy, meanwhile, isn't so lucky.
Towards the end of the 1st season, during Episode 7, Roxy gets killed by her very own gang leader, Black MacAdam head Caolan Waltrip (Ritchie Coster), after he learns about her secret commitment and informant deal with the ATF, which she confesses to having. Now that the character is gone, it's time to discuss where we've all seen the actor who plays her — Emily Davis.
Davis played the D.A. in the Showtime series American Rust
After years of starring in Sundance films and under-the-radar indie projects, Emily Davis' first big television break came in 2021 with the role of District Attorney Sue Herlitz in Showtime's "American Rust," starring Jeff Daniels and Maura Tierney. Davis appeared in six episodes as Herlitz — going toe-to-toe with Daniels and other actors throughout each one. One Twitter user, @skyinthegrass, said of her portrayal: "I was just watching American Rust on Showtime. Kept thinking how the actress playing the DA looked familiar. Then I realized she is Emily Davis."
Premiering in September 2021, "American Rust" is based on the Philip Myers novel of the same name and focuses on Pennsylvania police chief Del Harris, played by Daniels, who is dealing with murder and corruption in his local Rust Belt town. The official synopsis offered up by Showtime calls the series a "compelling family drama and a timeless story told through the eyes of complicated and compromised chief of police Del Harris." Tierney plays Harris' love interest and the mother of an accused killer that the police chief is investigating. Davis' character Herlitz, meanwhile, is trying to weed out dirty cops while also getting to the bottom of the aforementioned murder.
"You allowed an officer using illegal substances to remain on your force during a drug epidemic?" Herlitz blasts at Harris during an Episode 3 tease.
Despite being axed at Showtime, "American Rust" was reportedly picked up by Amazon Freevee in 2022 and is expected to get a 2nd season (via CBS News). The show was said to be looking for extras back in November 2022, so it's very likely that something could be coming in 2023 or 2024.
Davis got haunted by the plague doctor in 2022's The Harbinger
Now, if you're a horror movie lover, there's a good chance you caught wind of Emily Davis' performance in the breakout COVID-inspired lockdown flick "The Harbinger" by Andy Mitton, which boasts a 94% Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes and positive reviews from critics for The Guardian, Variety, and a number of other media outlets. "The Harbinger finally gives us a COVID horror movie worth watching," reads one headline from Polygon.
Released in July 2022, "The Harbinger" focuses on two friends — played by Davis and Tony Award-nominated stage star Gabby Beans — who are staying together during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Davis' character, Mavis, suffers from terrible nightmares and gets haunted in her dreams by a ghoulish plague doctor figure who calls themselves "the harbinger." Beans' character, Mo, has traveled from upstate New York to the New York City borough of Queens to be with Mavis and comfort her.
"Davis and Beans have a believable, slightly distant dynamic that colors the relationship between Mavis and Mo," wrote Polygon critic Steven Nguyen Scaife. "Whatever the harbinger is, it isn't just a standard horror movie metaphor for COVID or mental illness," Scaife added "The entity has physical consequences that affect real time and space: When it comes for someone, it plucks them out of reality entirely, as if the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind process was a jump scare. The victim disappears from the memory of everyone they ever knew, as if they never existed at all. It's the ultimate, terrifying realization of dying alone."
Davis was Sam's ex-wife in The Patient
Emily Davis' most recent work, before "Tulsa King," would be her 2022 run on the FX on Hulu show "The Patient," starring Steve Carell and Domhnall Gleeson. Davis played the ex-wife of Gleeson's character, Sam, who is a self-admitted serial killer privately seeking help from Carell's therapist character Alan for his bloodthirsty urges. While Davis doesn't appear much throughout the series, her portrayal of the ex-wife Mary in the three episodes that she does show up in is very noteworthy and crucial to the story. In Episode 9, her character is asked to attend a super-awkward dinner at Sam's home with his mom, while Alan is down in the basement being held captive.
"If you're not already watching 'The Patient,' if the prospect of Domhnall Gleeson and Steve Carell hasn't been enough to lure you there, here's another incentive: Emily Davis," said Twitter user @collinshughes back in October 2022 when the show was still on. "Perfect."
As for what's next for Davis now that "Tulsa King" has finished, the Dallas native doesn't appear to have anything coming out in the immediate future. But you never know when she could pop up again.