Samuel L. Jackson Takes the Crown in 'Frisco King': Taylor Sheridan's 'Tulsa King' Spinoff Sets a December 18 Premiere

Taylor Sheridan’s crime map is getting a Texas suburb. Paramount+ released the first teaser for Frisco King on Thursday, October 15, and used the occasion to plant a flag: the Tulsa King spinoff built around Samuel L. Jackson’s Russell Lee Washington Jr. premieres Friday, December 18, 2026, exclusively on Paramount+, opening with two episodes and continuing with new episodes every Friday. Sheridan didn’t just lend the new series his name — Paramount+ confirmed he wrote all eight episodes of the first season himself.

What the teaser shows

The teaser, posted to Paramount+’s official YouTube channel, runs about half a minute and plays like a coronation. Lee introduces himself as a man whose work sits outside the law and seems entirely at peace with that. Dwight Manfredi — Sylvester Stallone, crossing over from Tulsa King — gives him the territory with a handshake and a challenge: “See how far you can take it.” From there it’s quick cuts: stacks of cash, a car blowing up, Lee using a kitchen pan as a weapon and staring down a younger man who is rapidly reconsidering his choices. People’s beat-by-beat account of the footage lands in the same places, and the key art says the rest in four words: small town, big hustle.

The setup

According to Paramount+, the series follows Lee Washington, a seasoned New Orleans gangster, as he lands in Frisco, Texas, and finds a hustler’s playground hiding under the polished surface of American suburbia. He recruits an ambitious protégé, a loyal driver and a widening circle of eccentric partners, and starts turning small hustles into a real business — with the risks compounding as fast as the money. It is the Tulsa King engine run in reverse: instead of Dwight building an empire in exile, this is a man choosing his new kingdom.

The connection to the parent show is personal, not just corporate. Per Paramount+, Lee and Dwight met in federal prison roughly twenty years before the events of Tulsa King, where Dwight saved Lee’s life. Jackson introduced the character as a special guest star in the Season 3 episodes “Dead Weight” and “Jesus Lizard,” playing a hitman of rare distinction whose loyalty to Dwight was tested on screen — and those two episodes played, in hindsight, like a backdoor pilot. Frisco King is now the first spinoff of Tulsa King, and Jackson’s Lee is the first character to carry a Sheridan crime series out of the parent show’s orbit.

Who’s in it

Jackson leads the series and serves as an executive producer. Joining him, per Paramount+’s cast guide: Asa Germann (Gen V) as Teddy, a sharp college dropout whose entrepreneurial streak catches Lee’s eye; Kai Caster (Yellowstone) as Keith, a polite valet at the Sandman Hotel; Lilah Pate (Outer Banks) as London, a popular local cheerleader; and Savanna Gann (English Teacher) as Avery, London’s friend and fellow cheerleader. All four get pulled into Lee’s operation — a recruitment pool drawn from Frisco’s everyday life rather than from any existing crime crew, which is the show’s freshest angle.

Stallone’s involvement is official but deliberately un-sized: Paramount+ bills it as a special appearance by Dwight, and the teaser gives him the blessing scene. How many episodes he actually appears in has not been announced — reporting beyond the “special appearance” label is, for now, unconfirmed.

Sheridan wrote every episode

The creative credits are unusually concentrated. Paramount Television Studios and 101 Studios produce the series, and the streamer’s press release confirms Sheridan as the writer of all eight Season 1 episodes, with Christina Alexandra Voros directing the pilot and four episodes in total, and Michael Friedman directing the other four. Jackson, Stallone and Sheridan executive produce alongside David C. Glasser, Ron Burkle, David Hutkin, Bob Yari, Voros, Friedman, LaTanya Richardson Jackson and Keith Cox.

The show also changed maps on its way to the screen. It was first developed as NOLA King, when Lee’s new base was going to be his hometown of New Orleans; Paramount+ retitled it Frisco King in February 2026 as the setting moved to Texas. Production filmed in Fort Worth beginning in March 2026, standing in for the Dallas–Fort Worth suburb the series is named for.

Why Sheridan fans should care

The timing is the tell. Paramount+ made the announcement one day before Tulsa King Season 4 premieres on Friday, October 16 — the parent show is about to dominate the service’s fall, and Frisco King’s December 18 launch is positioned to catch that audience on the other side of the season. Jackson’s two guest episodes last season made Lee an immediate fan favorite, and rather than spend that heat on a recurring role, Sheridan gives him a city of his own: same universe, same rules, a completely different kind of room to work.

What isn’t known yet, stated plainly: Paramount+ has not released episode titles, has not specified the size of Stallone’s role beyond the special-appearance billing, and has not announced anything about a second season. What is known is enough — a December date, a full Sheridan season, and Samuel L. Jackson setting up shop in the suburbs. Frisco may not know it yet, but its new king has arrived.