The crime drama Tulsa King follows Dwight Manfredi (Sylvester Stallone), a New York mafia capo who has been released from prison after serving 25 years. After keeping silent about the mob’s crimes, instead of being welcomed back and able to claim his place of power as he expected, he is sent by the Invernizzi crime family to Tulsa, Oklahoma to build a new criminal empire from scratch.

In season three, Dwight intends to expand his empire by buying a coveted bourbon distillery run by the Montagues, but his plans are derailed by the Dunmire family, led by Jeremiah (Robert Patrick), who wants it for his own, and his son, Cole (Beau Knapp), who is the muscle. The formidable Dunmires, who rules the local liquor trade through intimidation and spilt blood, will force Dwight to fight for everything he’s built in Tulsa.

Recently, Knapp spoke with SciFi Vision about joining the cast for season three of the series, working with both Stallone and Patrick, the contradictory nature of his character, and more.

Watch the interview and read the transcript below.



SCIFI VISION:   To start off, why did you want to be a part of it? What attracted you to either the script or the role?

BEAU KNAPP:   I mean, I love Taylor Sheridan's worlds. I mean, and who doesn't love Sly? He's just a living legend. Well, yeah, I mean, it's such a different story than, you know, the ones out there these days, and I think it's so unique too, to Tulsa and mobsters in the West and all this stuff. I also had a lot of great friends on that show. So, it was just kind of a no brainer for me.

SCIFI VISION:   Talk a bit about your character and sort of, I guess, his trajectory through the season, because after the second episode…he's a little contradictory. I mean, he saves the one woman. He seems like he's saying he's not part of this. Clearly, he is, but he's kind of trying to, it sounds like, maybe not be a part of everything. So yeah, talk about that.

BEAU KNAPP:   Yeah, I think that originally Cole was written as kind of almost like a comedic bit and some kind of dumb yokel almost kind of thing. I had dinner with Sly, and we kind of came to this thing and that was so interesting about the character, [it] just kept developing over the season, but he kind of saw this kind of East of Eden aspect to it and this kind of tortured soul. And that's the thing with Cole. He has a good heart, but he's kind of, you know, he's a product of his environment. He's got whiskey in his blood, and it's passed down generation to generation. He was made to be mean, but at the end of the day, for me, he's a romantic, he's a tough guy, but I think he's just trying to do it, because he adores his father, like a memory of him at least, and he'll do whatever he needs to do to, you know, whatever the cost to get that affection.

SCIFI VISION:   Do you think he actually thought though that it would work going back to Cleo? Because he's trying to talk dirty. He's like, you know, “I wasn't involved in his death.” It's like, her father just died, and you're trying to hit on her. [laughs]

BEAU KNAPP:   You know, it was a long shot. It was a long shot. I see that. But I think that as the season goes on, you just kind of see that there's a big backstory there, and it kind of touches on it in that small scene together, but they have so much history, and it's one of those things we discussed too, is like, these are kids growing up together, just playing ball and being best friends, and these two distilling families that were actually friends, you know, and when the mothers were around and all that. So, they were really close for a long time. Then, something went sour, and they kind of had to choose sides. So, I think maybe it was a stretch, but I think he thought that he could connect again to that childhood, those childhood roots. And maybe that's how he dreamed it would be, is that he would marry Cleo one day and live happily ever after.

SCIFI VISION:   Did he know Mitch as well or was that just sort of like he was his rival?

BEAU KNAPP:   I think he knew Mitch from before. He knew of him. I think Mitch beat up on him in high school and stuff like that or something. You know, he was cool. Cole was never too cool, as much as he tries. But yeah, he knew from the past, he knew his prison problems and drug problems, all that stuff, all the personal stuff. But I think that's how the small towns work.

SCIFI VISION:   Talk about working with Robert Patrick.

BEAU KNAPP:   Robert Patrick, that man is a force. We hit it off right away, you know, and that’s what’s just so interesting and just wild about this business. You get to work with these people you grew up watching, and he still has so much fire in him. And I'm not saying he's older or anything like that. I'm just saying that it's inspiring to see the passion that he still has for this craft. Yeah, it was intimidating each day we worked together. I think that was good for the performance. You know, you needed that; at least I did. But yeah, he played that role beautifully, and I admire him, definitely.

SCIFI VISION:   What about working with Sly? Was that intimidating? I would assume it would be as well.

BEAU KNAPP:   Yeah, I mean, it's Sly. He is such a gentleman and tough guy and everything I hoped he'd be. I mean, he right away welcomed me with open arms, and he took me aside.

He was just like, “This script, it's just a map, you know, it's just a map, and you follow your gut, and you play this character.” He gave me a lot of confidence in that. So, I'll always be grateful. But yeah, just watching him work is a thing of beauty.

SCIFI VISION:   Do you feel like, is there anything, I guess, on your own that you sort of changed? Because it sounds like they're really open to you kind of developing him on your own. Is there anything you can think of that you sort of changed about him?

BEAU KNAPP:   You know, I think that I'm not very - I don't have too much comedic timing, I don't think. But I tend to go to the darker side of things. But immediately, I connected with Cole's, the turmoil he has inside from his family and from the trauma and trying to be good enough and trying to survive in a really, really fucked up, tough world.

So, that was immediately my anchor for him. So, it always comes from like a vulnerable spot, even if he's being tough or, as you see as the series progresses, in dangerous situations and stuff like that. It's all out of fear. It's all out of vulnerability and that void inside. But I think that, yeah, I think that was my take on Cole.

SCIFI VISION:   Is there a part of him you had trouble connecting with, though? Because it sounds like the other side of him maybe wasn't as...

BEAU KNAPP:   Yeah, I mean, maybe the goofier side of stuff, and because that's what's so fun about this show. It's like you can get so heavy and so light in the same episode. It's not this one tone.

But I mean, like one of my favorite things was like when Robert Patrick's like, “Take care of it, you know, keep it close to home,” and I lift up my hand, and I have my name tattooed on my knuckles. And I'm like, “They'll never know what hit them.”

It's just like funny stuff like that. That's enjoyable, but it's definitely harder to connect to. I usually like to just keep it dark.

SCIFI VISION:   Well, that's fair. We're almost out of time. Is there anything you can tease about what's coming, that you're allowed to say, past episode two?

BEAU KNAPP:   I mean, I think that, I think we're going to get, you're going to get a sense of it in episode two, where Cole, we don't know where he's headed, you know, which lane. He's got a big choice to make. But yeah, I'd just say to audiences, just be prepared to see a side of Cole you've never seen before, and I think it's a hell of a ride.

And this cast and Robert and everybody is just, there's nothing like it, nothing like it. I haven't been a part of anything like it before. But yeah, action, revenge, betrayal, all of it, it's exciting.

SCIFI VISION:   What have you learned since starting on this show? Has your life changed at all, or have you changed at all since working on the show?

BEAU KNAPP:   Definitely. I think that this show brought me some sense of this peace, where it's okay to have a good time every once in a while, instead of being so serious all the time, and that people enjoy that too.

But, yeah, I left straight from Tulsa, I went home to Texas for a week, and then I've been in Romania ever since. So, I'm in another, I'm in a darker place now.

But, yeah, it's an amazing show, and I'm just grateful to be a part of it.

SCIFI VISION:   I'm assuming you're maybe filming something else that you're there? Or do you have anything else coming up you can [talk about]?

BEAU KNAPP:   Yeah, I'm shooting a film for Sony called Archangel. It's kind of sci-fi too. It's great. I did this sci-fi film with Will Eubank called The Signal, like 10 years ago. It was amazing. But we're back together shooting this one, but it's going to be great. It'll be out next year. It's very heavy though.