Sylvester Stallone's Dwight "The General" Manfredi returned last month as Taylor Sheridan's Tulsa King made its fourth-season debut. The Season 4 premiere, "W.W.D.D.," written by Terence Winter and directed by Guy Ferland, was an instant hit, reaching the top of Paramount+ and continuing Sheridan's streaming dominance. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, Season 4 already boasts an 86% average approval rating from critics after the first three episodes, making it the series' second-highest rating so far.
Governor Clark targeted Stallone's Dwight and the rest of his crew in the last episode as the tension continues to rise on the road to the Season 4 halfway mark. There's no doubt that the role of The General is now one of Stallone's most famous in a career packed with iconic performances. But none defines his career more than Rocky Balboa, the ultimate sporting underdog that first graced the big screen in 1976. The character and the movie immediately became a pop culture phenomenon and scored a total of ten Academy Award nominations, winning the coveted Best Picture prize.
The Rocky franchise was far from perfect in the years following, with the five subsequent installments unable to reach the heights of the first. Then came 2015's Creed, with the reboot of the Rocky franchise entrusted to one of the most promising young directors in Hollywood, Ryan Coogler. Following their work together on the acclaimed biographical drama Fruitvale Station, Coogler chose Michael B. Jordan to take the lead on the reboot as the titular Adonis Creed, who hires Stallone's Rocky as his trainer and mentor. 11 years later, Creed is proving a major streaming hit, having spent 70 days in the Pluto TV top ten in the U.S.
Since Creed, Jordan and Coogler's partnership has gone from strength to strength. Earlier this year, they reached their highest height yet as they took home four Academy Awards for the genius vampire musical horror Sinners. Of those Academy Awards, the most high-profile was a win for Jordan in the Best Actor category. The film's other wins included Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, and Best Original Screenplay, as well as triumphs from several other major awards bodies.
Creed is a 70-day hit on Pluto TV. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
