Stallone Wants Andrew Garfield as Tulsa King's Next Villain

Picture Andrew Garfield slipping into the shadows of Tulsa. Strange? Maybe. Exciting? Absolutely.

Sylvester Stallone recently revealed an idea that feels less like stunt casting and more like a deliberate tonal shift: he wants Garfield to play a new kind of antagonist on Tulsa King. Not the hulking, cigar-chomping mafioso the show often sends after Dwight Manfredi, but a quieter, slipperier adversary — someone Dwight can't size up at a glance.

Tulsa King, created by Taylor Sheridan, has ridden a powerful wave since its debut. Stallone anchors the series as Dwight, nicknamed the General, carving out a criminal empire in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The show has become a flagship hit for Paramount+, now moving into its fifth season with production already underway and even spawning a spinoff, Frisco King, which follows Samuel L. Jackson's Russell Lee Washington Jr. as he builds his own operation in Texas.

On the podcast The Rest Is Entertainment with Marina Hyde, Stallone described a late-night meeting with Garfield that lingered in his mind. He said he was surprised by how well they connected and began imagining Garfield not as a brute but as a cerebral threat — the kind of villain built on wits, manipulation and maybe even technology. 'I really want to see him as a villain in Tulsa King,' Stallone said. 'Not the usual big, violent enemy. Maybe someone who poses a threat by intellect. Maybe AI-based. Something I don't even know how to stop.'

Stallone imagines Garfield not as a muscle-bound foe but as a cold, cerebral threat Dwight can't anticipate.

Timing complicates the fantasy. Paramount+ has confirmed season five and cameras are rolling, making Garfield's entrance into that chapter unlikely. But this is television. If Tulsa King keeps its momentum and the creative team wants to extend the story, a sixth season could be the perfect place to introduce the character Stallone envisions.

Garfield's screen life of late has skewed heavily cinematic. He has spent much of the last decade focused on films, with only occasional TV detours — two episodes of Doctor Who during David Tennant's run, FX's Under the Banner of Heaven, and a forthcoming Apple TV+ project, Wild Things. That cinematic bent might make the Tulsa King idea unusual, but also tantalizing. What happens when an actor known for emotional, layered film performances brings that sensibility to a prestige crime series?

The notion gains another layer because Garfield has recently taken on a role tied directly to artificial intelligence. In a film called Artificial, he portrays Sam Altman, the OpenAI cofounder. Early critical reaction has been strong; some reviews called Garfield's work among his best, and Rotten Tomatoes' early tally reportedly sits very high. That intersection — Garfield playing a real-world tech figure and then being imagined as a possibly AI-forward villain in a crime drama — is a neat creative echo.

Beyond Stallone and Garfield, Tulsa King's ensemble remains a draw. Alongside Stallone and Samuel L. Jackson, the cast includes Frank Grillo, Robert Patrick, Andrea Savage, Martin Starr, J. Will, Garrett Hedlund, Neal McDonough and Kevin Pollak. The series has often leaned on classic mob archetypes, so the prospect of a villain defined by intellect and unpredictability would shake things up.

Stallone is not just the show's star. He serves as an executive producer and has writing credits on certain episodes, a fact that makes his casting suggestions feel less like celebrity talk and more like creative plotting. The showrunners, Terence Winter and Dave Erickson, have steered the series so far. Whether they'll welcome an Andrew Garfield-shaped twist remains to be seen.

Would Garfield accept? That depends on schedules, creative appetite and how eager he is to return to television territory he left behind years ago. But the very idea — of a modern, intellectual enemy entering Dwight's world and exploiting angles the General never considered — is the kind of narrative jolt Tulsa King could use.

Keep an eye on casting whispers. If Garfield does step into Dallas County's criminal underbelly — or rather, Tulsa's — it could be a striking collision of movie-caliber acting and serialized crime drama, with a dash of the technological unease that's become part of our moment.