Samuel L. Jackson is the latest marquee star to enter the TV world of Taylor Sheridan. The Oscar-nominated actor is poised to lead his own Paramount+ series for the prolific creator titled NOLA King, sources tell Deadline. Written by Dave Erickson (Mayor of Kingstown), it is being plotted as a spinoff from the Sylvester Stallone hit Tulsa King. Jackson will appear in multiple episodes of Tulsa King‘s upcoming third season before headlining and executive producing the new series, from 101 Studios and MTV Entertainment Studios.
Details are sketchy but Jackson is believed to be playing Russell Lee Washington Jr. who, like Stallone’s Dwight “The General” Manfredi, comes from the crime world. He will go against Dwight in Tulsa before going down to take over New Orleans.
Production on Season 3 of Tulsa King has been underway in Atlanta and Oklahoma for a couple of months. Jackson is expected to film his episodes in July, with production on NOLA King eying a February start, sources said. Erickson, who is showrunner on the current season of Tulsa King in addition to his duties as showrunner on Sheridan’s Mayor of Kingstown, serves as writer, executive producer and showrunner of NOLA King.
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Under his overall deal with MTV Entertainment, he is expected to transition from Tulsa King to the new series while continuing on Mayor of Kingstown. NOLA King executive producers also include Sheridan and 101 Studios’ David C. Glasser.
According to sources, NOLA King stems from an idea by Chris McCarthy, President and CEO, Showtime and MTV Entertainment Studios, to expand the world of Tulsa King the way Sheridan’s Yellowstone has spawned multiple offshoots. Reps for MTV Entertainment Studios declined comment.
Tulsa King follows New York mafia capo Dwight (Stallone), just after he is released from prison after 25 years and unceremoniously exiled by his boss to set up shop in Tulsa, Okla. Realizing that his mob family may not have his best interests in mind, Dwight slowly builds a “crew” from a group of unlikely characters to help him establish a new criminal empire in a place that to him might as well be another planet.
The Season 2 opener of Tulsa King set a Paramount+ record for most watched global premiere at the time with a reported 21.1 million global streaming viewers. Tulsa King S2, alongside two other Sheridan series for Paramount+, Landman and Lioness, ranked in the Top 10 of U.S. streaming original series for Q4, marking only the second time since Nielsen began tracking SVOD platforms in 2017 that a service other than Netflix has had 3 of the top 10 series.
Jackson is known for his MCU role as Nick Fury, which he has played across films and TV series. On TV, he recently starred in the Peacock limited series Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist. An Academy Award nominee for Pulp Fiction, Jackson received an Honorary Oscar in 2021.
He joins such other A-list stars in the Sheridan universe as Kevin Costner (Yellowstone), fellow MCU member Jeremy Renner (Mayor of Kingstown), Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren (1923), Stallone (Tulsa King), Nicole Kidman and Zoe Saldaña (Lioness), Billy Bob Thornton (Landman) and David Oyelowo (Bass Reeves).