‘Tulsa King’: Scarlet Stallone on Spencer’s Big Move & How Working With Dad Sly ‘Completely Changed’ Their Relationship

[Warning: The following post contains spoilers for Tulsa King Season 3 Episode 7, “Art of War.”]

There was a lot of fallout after the assassination attempt on Dwight Manfredi (Sylvester Stallone) in Tulsa King‘s latest episode. First, he had to make amends with Quiet Ray (James Russo), who was upset about being shot at and shot down. Ray agreed to help Dwight get distribution access but warned that retribution was still coming. Dwight didn’t dwell on that thread and instead worked to talk the attorney general into restoring the liquor license. He did so by having Margaret (Dana Delany) rope Cal Thresher (Neal McDonough) into a scheme to expose his gambling issues. Meanwhile, Cole (Beau Knapp) dealt with another bout of verbal abuse from his dad, Jeremiah Dunmire (Robert Patrick), over his failure in the shooting.

All of this commotion gave some of Dwight’s crew room to roam, and Spencer (Scarlet Stallone) in particular took advantage of that in some surprising ways. After an emotional secret meeting with Cole in which he declared his feelings for her, and she acknowledged that her boss would be furious if he ever found out about their connection, she returned to the bar and accepted a risky proposition from the newly entrepreneurial Tyson (Jay Will) and Goodie (Christopher Caldovino). She agreed to run reconnaissance for the pair at a frat house, scoping out the lay of the land and reporting back so they could storm the place as fake cops and steal the college kids’ stash of ecstasy.

Spencer, who’s otherwise been very low-key throughout her time on the show, really stepped up and revealed a new boldness and bravado that we hadn’t seen from her yet, especially when she offered to sell the stolen drugs to other bartenders and DJs around town for a healthy chunk of the profits.

To break down this bold new adventure for Spencer in this episode, TV Insider caught up with Scarlet Stallone!

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What’s it like working with your father in his first television series and having this role where you guys have such interesting interactions?

Scarlet Stallone: I think it completely changed our relationship in general. When I was younger, Sly was always working, so there was a bit of distance in the relationship. However, getting to actually work alongside him has made us really understand each other and have more of a profound respect for one another. It’s fun, but also, there’s a little bit of pressure. I think every actor has their own individual kind of pressure, but in this case, he’s helped me so much with everything when it comes to do with acting, and I love learning and working alongside him.

Your character has sort of a fatherly relationship with Dwight in a way. Can you talk about just establishing that dynamic between them? 

I think that Spencer was really lost when she first came onto the scene. She already is quitting her first job, and now she’s on to her second job… I started working when I was 19, so seeing her character go from before Dwight, then after meeting Dwight, and how much she’s trying to find herself throughout that due to the help of Dwight really makes her more grown and actually gives her more of an arc in the story.

Season 3 really pulls some new threads from this character, especially with the relationship with Cole. What do you think it is that she sees in Cole? Is it just the rescue element that brings her attention to him, or do you think there’s more? 

I mean, I think every girl likes a bad boy, so, I think that’s kind of what drew her in. She’s very innocent. She has no idea what she’s getting into when she meets Cole. I love the relationship itself because she has no idea who he is. And all she did was see a very kind guy help her when she was in trouble. But she did see a little bit of a rebellion in him, too, which drew her in so much. I think it’s really cute, their relationship. I think it’s, you take the innocent girl and then you take the bad boy, but she slowly starts to find out who he is throughout it, and she starts to doubt it. And now she has to choose whether she wants to stay with him or not.

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In the episode before this, we saw some of his complicated family relationship and what he’s willing to do for his father [when he stormed the party and destroyed the Fifty barrel]. Do you think that changed her opinion of him? 

Oh, completely. I think she knew exactly what she was stepping into, but I think that the youngness, the little bit of immaturity in her was like, “I kind of also want to be a little bit of a rebel. I want to stay with him.” So, I think that when [she] first saw him and saw how much of a ruckus he’s made, she doesn’t really stop that kind of passion with him. She wants to keep going.

In this episode, they get back together and talk in the truck, and she mentions that she knows Dwight would be angry at her for being there. What is she willing to risk for this relationship? 

Well, I think she doesn’t know exactly what she has to lose. And knowing that she’s best friends with Tyson… she has everything to owe to Dwight because he has started her life and has given her a job at the Bred-2-Buck [bar]. So, she doesn’t really understand, “If I’m going to succeed in this relationship, I’m probably going to lose these friends.” So, she makes it a secret… That’s her little rebel phase where she’s like, “I’m gonna stick with the bad boy, even though I know what damage he’s caused.”

We also see her express some confidence and a different rebel side in the fact that she gets involved with Tyson and Goodie in the heist of the frat house. What makes her so confident in that moment that she’s able and willing to do this? 

I think it’s more she grew into the relationship with this crew… I think Spencer was kind of like the outsider, didn’t really know. She was just working with Margaret at the ranch. And then as time went on, she kept getting introduced to the new characters in the group. And I think she has that sense of comfortability now — because she was so awkward and tight when we first got to know her. She was just an awkward college girl, didn’t really know what she wanted to do with her life, and then knowing that she kind of has a passion, this little bit of a spark of rebel passion in her drew her to wanting to do something that is so out of her comfort zone. Also, she just loves making money, you can tell.

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Speaking of making money, the moment when she shakes Tyson down for a higher percentage, that’s a pretty cold moment. Do you think she was kind of invoking Dwight or any of those guys in the moment? 

Oh, 100%. I mean, like she said, she does take business classes in college, so I think she wants to fit in so badly, and she doesn’t want these high-powered guys to take advantage of her ideas. So she wants to also be like, “I deserve to be in this group just as much as you guys, so I need to take a percentage as well.”

We’ll have to wait and see how Spencer, Tyson, and Goodie’s new extracurricular activities play out through the rest of the season, but clearly, she’s in the game now for good.

Tulsa King, Sundays, Paramount+