Tulsa King Showrunner Exits Series for Season 2 Due to Creative Differences

Hit Paramount+ series Tulsa King is set to have new leadership very soon as a new report reveals the showrunner is departing. Deadline brings word that legendary TV writer/producer Terence Winter is exiting the series as showrunner for the next season of the show, but will remain an executive producer. The trade tracks the route of his leaving as “creative differences.” No specifics on what this actually means was given though, but the dide note a previous interview with Winter where he teased some difference of opinion with creator Taylor Sheridan. Winter, a favorite whose credits include The Sopranos and Boardwalk Empire, will reportedly next focus on new projects.

“It was essentially the same idea,” Winter told Deadline previously about the differences in Sheridan’s idea for the show and his own. “In his version our character Dwight was a 75-year-old kind of low-level bag man in the mob. He had never been to prison, he didn’t have a family and he got sent out to Kansas City as a reward for a lifetime of service. When I took it over, I really felt like I wanted to explore the idea of a 75-year-old man in the twilight of his years who’s only got a limited amount of time left, who wants to make something of his life. And I felt it would be more powerful if he had spent the last 25 years in jail and he’s fully expecting to be rewarded. Instead he gets sent by the boss’ son to Tulsa….Dropping a guy like Dwight into the middle of cowboy country felt more ripe with possibilities.”

The departure of Winter from Tulsa King marks the latest major news out of Taylor Sheridan’s TV kingdom. Earlier this week came news that the hit series Yellowstone may be getting a huge change with Kevin Costner reportedly considering leaving the show. Rumors and reports across the internet have painted a picture of Yellowstone perhaps coming to an end, with Costner exiting the series and Matthew McConaughey perhaps filling in as the lead of a new series. Paramount Network has denied these reports however and say Yellowstone will continue.

Fans may recall that before Terrence Winter became the showrunner for Tulsa King’s first season he was previously in line to showrun HBO Max’s The Batman spinoff series about the Gotham City Police Department. Winter was one of several showrunners that departed the series, which eventually got reconfigured into something else entirely. According to the trade Winter has two projects lined up already including a reunion with Martin Scorsese (the pair worked on Boardwalk Empire, Vinyl, and The Wolf of Wall Street together) and a limited series about the New York Mets.