If Tulsa King Reminds You Of A Certain Netflix Show, You're Not Alone
Taylor Sheridan seems to be one of the biggest forces currently taking over the television landscape. Between the massive success of "Yellowstone" and its many prequels, the writer-director has also been peppering in some unrelated new projects like the justice-system-focused "Mayor of Kingstown" and the mafia crime drama "Tulsa King."
The latter stars Sylvester Stallone as Dwight "The General" Manfredi, an ex-con and gangster who finds himself shipped off to the titular Oklahoma locale after finishing a long-term prison stint. Miffed by this treatment, Manfredi builds up his own local crew in case further retaliation comes from his syndicate. With a second season already confirmed, fans of Sheridan's work will no doubt be excited to see where the story goes in Season 2 as well.
All the same, if this premise sounds a bit familiar to you, you're not alone, as many fans have drawn comparisons between "Tulsa King" and a mostly forgotten Netflix original series called "Lilyhammer."
Many viewers have noticed a similarity to Netflix's Lilyhammer
Though many longtime subscribers probably think that the Kevin Spacey political drama "House of Cards" was Netflix's first original series, the streamer actually launched a show before that more high-profile release came along. "Lilyhammer" starred Steven Van Zandt of "The Sopranos" and Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band as a disgraced gangster who is sent to cool his heels in Norway after testifying against his former mafia crew.
Being that his past comes back to haunt him, too, as he adjusts to his new home, it's easy to see why fans of "Tulsa King" are noticing a few common elements between the two shows. On the r/tulsaking subreddit, fans pointed out the similarities between the two series but otherwise seemed to agree that both were still worth watching.
"Just saw the first episode, and I really liked it," wrote u/n_handsrune in their thread. "But did anyone else get the feeling that it was a 'Lilyhammer' with Sylvester Stallone instead of Steven Van Zandt and Tulsa instead of Lilyhammer?" Some others quickly chimed in to agree with this comparison.
"Literally started Lilyhammer last night and thought that they were very similar," wrote u/Phoojoeniam. "Not that I'm complaining, I'm loving both!" Meanwhile, u/cristaelle100 was happy to learn why the show felt so familiar to them. "Oh my goodness, thanks for the insight; the premise did feel oddly familiar," they said. Unfortunately, the Netflix series only lasted a single season, but at least fans now have "Tulsa King" to help scratch that same itch for fish-out-of-water gangster stories.