‘Tulsa King’s Richie Stephens Reacts to English Dan’s Fate
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An unexpected shootout turned deadly on the latest episode of Tulsa King, “Cease & Desist.” After Tyson (Jay Will) boosted the ecstasy pills from a rival dealer, the injured man’s boss, English Dan (Richie Stephens), vowed revenge … not for the harm done to his crew, of course, but to his pocket.
English Dan, with puckered lips and a cockney accent, warned that Tyson would be better off in the custody of the police than for him to catch up to him. Ultimately, though, things went down a very different way. Warning: Spoilers for Tulsa King Season 4 Episode 3 ahead!
After finding out who Tyson is and who he works for, English Dan was not impressed; he didn’t know who Dwight “The General” Manfredi (Sylvester Stallone) was, and he didn’t care. Instead, he approached Tyson from behind at an ice cream stop and made a friendly gesture before whipping out his pistol. It was just a second too much of a warning, though, because Tyson was able to get the upper hand in the shootout, leaving English Dan on the run. Tyson then hunted English Dan down and shockingly gunned him down outside of a gym.
English Dan is portrayed by Richie Stephens, who has some history in the Taylor Sheridan show universe, having previously starred in Mayor of Kingstown‘s second season. TV Insider caught up with the actor to discuss his character’s fate and find out what might be next for him in the Sheridan-verse.
Congrats on the second Taylor Sheridan show. I mean, it’s always fun when you know actors get recycled. So, how did your experiences compare between Mayor Kingstown and Tulsa King?
Richie Stephens: Well, it was a double blessing because just getting one Taylor Sheridan show is what every actor would hope to get. So, I couldn’t believe my luck when I got another.
We shot Mayor of Kingstown in Pittsburgh, and I had a great time on that show, too. It’s a different tone from Tulsa King. Mayor of Kingstown is more grim, but Tulsa King is a more light-hearted sort of project. So I think I enjoy both of them, but Tulsa King is definitely lighter because if you look at Mayor of Kingstown, there’s not much comedy relief in it.
Especially with the Russian mafia season. I mean, that was very dark.
Yeah, yeah.
Ahead of the season, I talked to Sylvester Stallone, and he told me to expect one of “the most dangerous, unpredictable, psychopathic characters ever seen in Tulsa King.” Do you think that describes English Dan?
I hope that’s me. I think there’s multiple bad guys in this season. So if he was referring to me, I would appreciate that.
English Dan gets quite an introduction, but he also doubts Dwight, despite hearing from his crew that this is a notorious gangster. Why do you think he underestimated Dwight and his crew?
Well, I guess number one [is] because he doesn’t know who they are. He’s an established gangster in this territory, and he has his own business set up that’s working, and then somebody who he doesn’t know comes out of nowhere and tries to muscle in on his turf. So that’s why he would underestimate him because he doesn’t know who this person is.
After hearing about Tyson’s theft of the drugs, he murders his own associate. Why do you think he did that?
English Dan has a high standard, and he doesn’t tolerate failure…. There’s a little monologue that English Dan talks about, and he refers to what he learned in his childhood about only giving the person one chance. So Marcello lost his chance.
How fun was it for you to just dig into that then, just that merciless persona?
Well, it’s kind of what I get cast most of the time, so it wasn’t too much of a stretch. But it’s always fun to play bad guys, and I’m probably typecast as a villain or sometimes a bad cop who arrests the lead sort of thing, but yeah, it’s a lot of fun. Yeah, especially on a project like this where you get to work with incredible actors, incredible directors, great writing. And Stallone himself is a legend. Just being chosen for one of his projects was a total honor, a dream come true for me.
Yeah, and I’ve read that you were pretty open about your own experience with the criminal world. How do you feel Tulsa King reflects reality? Do you think it’s pretty on the money?
Yeah, when I was young, I was no angel, and yeah, I think it’s fairly true to life. You know, the writers are Terence Winter and Tom [Kelly]. They know their stuff when it comes to that world as well. So you can’t really miss when those are the people who are writing the story.
Photo by Amy Sussman / Getty Images
Obviously, he has a confrontation with Tyson, and it doesn’t go the way he might have expected. First of all, that was a fun approach. He’s like, “What flavor of ice cream do you have?” I mean, how fun was that for you to kind of play with your food before you try and eat it?
Yeah, it was nice because I guess the audience might be lulled into a false sense of security, like, “Oh, here’s a friendly guy,” and then he tries to fight. But yeah, it was fun to do.
Do you think he had any idea that this guy would be able to get the upper hand on him, too? He seemed so confident.
Oh, no, I think that was a big mistake for English Dan. Maybe he shouldn’t have joked around with him first. He could have just shot him in the back and been done with it. But he probably shouldn’t have toyed with him.
In shows like Tulsa King and any of the Taylor Sheridan verse, a good death is a compliment. It’s a big thing. So, how did you feel about getting gunned down with this vintage weapon and unexpectedly like that?
Yeah, I was hoping it would keep me on a bit longer, but it wasn’t to be. I had watched the previous seasons, and it seemed like Tyson, in his developing years, was this good guy who shouldn’t really be a gangster. And then I guess he made the turn because now he’s like the Terminator.
English Dan, he was pretty mean to his crew. If you were them, would you try to avenge him, or just say, “Well, we lost” ?
Well, I don’t know how much of my crew was left, but I would hope that they would try and avenge him.
He’s down one man from his own fault, though, right? So we talked a little bit about Taylor Sheridan shows before, and, obviously, with you being on two, there’s still a bunch out there, and there’s more to come. Are there any that you have your eye on that you’re like, “I think this would be a good fit for me for next”?
I will work on any project that Taylor is doing. I love his stuff, so I have auditioned for multiple in the past.
I was thinking of Lioness because with your history of doing the Russian stuff, I feel like they’re heading that direction.
Russian is one of my go-tos.
I also thought about maybe Mobland. They literally had a character named Richie Stevens. Is that a show that you keep up with?
Yeah, I haven’t seen Season 2 yet, but it was really fun when I noticed they did call one of the characters my name, which was funny.
He didn’t have a good fate.
Yeah, that means a good omen. We’ll see. I’d love to work on that one.
What did you think of just, in general, being a part of this Tulsa King world?
Well, it really meant a lot to me because it was a show I actually watch. If you’re an actor, you audition for a lot of different shows, and a lot of them might not be something that you regularly watch. So when you get to be on one of the shows that you follow, it’s really special. And it’s such a popular show as well. It was really just a blessing.
Tulsa King, Fridays, Paramount+
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