At the heart of the popular mob-Western series, Tulsa King is a group of villains focused on making life miserable for Dwight “The General” Manfredi (Sylvester Stallone), with one of them being Cal Thresher (Neal McDonough).
In Season 3, as Dwight's empire expands, so does his list of enemies and the risks to his crew. The series is so popular that it was renewed for Season 4 even before the Season 3 episodes started streaming on Sept. 21
Now he faces one of his most dangerous adversaries in Tulsa yet: Jeremiah Dunmire (Robert Patrick), a powerful old-money family that doesn't play by old-world rules, forcing Dwight to fight for everything he's built and protect his family,” according to Paramount+.
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But there are still enemies from earlier seasons, including Thresher, who seems to have backed away from their feud, as he grasps for power by running for governor with Dwight’s girlfriend Margaret (Dana Delany) as his liaison, but all is not what it appears to be on this Taylor Sheridan drama.
In Season 3, Episode 5, entitled “On the Rocks,” which aired on Sunday, October 19, Dwight launched his bourbon brand amid rising tensions, as Dunmire schemes to crash the launch and sabotage the event.
Neal McDonough as Cal Thresher in 'Tulsa King'Thresher is also at the big launch event in order to schmooze with the community he needs to support him. McDonough was eager to talk about Tulsa King, working closely with Stallone and the rest of the stellar cast, and finding the nuances in his character during Season 3.
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“Cal Thresher is such an interesting character," McDonough exclusively tells Parade, "because he went from being nose-to-nose with Sly in the very first scene of Season 1 that we did, where you’re saying, 'Who is this nut bag? Who is this power-hungry, crazy guy, billionaire who’s in Dwight Manfredi’s face?'
“And as the season progresses, you realize he didn’t really love the new life that he chose of being a gangster in the world of marijuana. And by the end of the season, it’s like. 'You know what, keep the land, keep all the stuff, I’m out. This really isn’t my bag.'"
McDonough, who is best known for Band of Brothers, 911 Lonestar, Boomtown, and Taylor Sheridan’sseries, Yellowstone, thought his character was done after Season 2. But Tulsa King producer David Glasser embraced the actor’s idea for Thresher to be governor of Oklahoma, and he was invited back for Seasons 3 and 4.
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Tulsa King actor Neal McDonough.Episode 5 is the halfway point for Season 3, and McDonough says this is the time “if you’re playing tennis, you want to start slamming some balls down your opponent’s throat."
“I think Dwight now has all these outside forces coming up against him, not just me, which is great because Cal is kind of almost like a back burner for him to an extent,” he added.
“Cal doesn’t have the pressure of Dwight being around him all the time, because he certainly doesn’t want the mob or Bill Bevilaqua (Frank Grillo) around him, because he doesn’t want to have any pictures with those guys. Cal just needs to get to the governorship. However, he’s going to do it; he needs to get there to make his goal come to fruition.”
Since Thresher tried all this “gangster stuff” last year and it didn’t work, McDonough explains that the focus this season is on his governor’s race.
“He figures he will run for governor, help out this great state, and it will help Cal amass more power. People will say things about Cal throughout the season because they are probably intimidated by him. After all, he knows what he wants to do, and he’s going to get it. Everything Cal Thresher sets his mind to, he always gets because he works really hard at it.”
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McDonough adds that during Season 3, “Cal believes come hell or high water, he’s going to become governor. So, I’m going to make sure that everyone realizes that I’m going to do it. If you don’t believe me, then go someplace else, or you can sit back and watch. But I am going to win. That is Cal’s through line for Season 3.”
Working with Dwight’s girlfriend, Margaret, appears to be a means to an end, with Cal’s eye on the prize of being governor.
“Cal really cares about Oklahoma, and he wants to be the guy, which is great. But you can see him kind of giving pause at times to some of the words that are being said by Margaret and Dwight. And then as the season progresses, he finally puts his foot down so that Cal Thresher gets what he wants.”
McDonough explained that Manfredi wanted a quiet mobster life with marijuana down in Tulsa, and keeping the big city mob guys at bay, but now there is so much at stake with so many adversaries, including Dunmire and Bevilaqua, that everything steamrolls with everyone being after The General.
“For Dwight, everything is ratcheted up so much more this season, and Sly is so fantastic in the choices that he made. He’s a champ. There’s no question about it. He knows how to get the ideas across.
“And he also helps write all these episodes,” says McDonough. “It’s awesome to see a guy like Sylvester Stallone who loves his life and his family so much and pours it into his craft.”
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Neal McDonough as Cal Thresher and Frank Grillo as Bill Bevilaqua in 'Tulsa King'McDonough is eager to share that during his 35-year acting career, villains are much easier to portray than heroes.
“When you play the bad guy, you can do whatever you want and you can go as big as you want, as long as you believe it. With the good guy, you have to do so little and use your face and eyes and speak as few words as possible to convey the message or pain that you’re going through to get to the end goal.”
“The villains are easy," he says. "But the heroes, it’s hard to leave them behind. I don’t even know who the hero is in Tulsa King. So that’s what makes for an interesting show because it seems much more real-life to me than most shows do.”
Season 3 of Tulsa King premiered on Sunday, Sept. 21, on Paramount+, with new episodes airing weekly on Sundays. Seasons 1 and 2 are available to stream on Paramount+.
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