Dwight Manfredi’s sister, Joanne, woke him at 4:30 in the morning to tell him the governor’s plane had crashed.
Cal Thresher was on that overnight flight, and so was Margaret, Dwight’s love interest, the two of them asleep in separate seats.
That is how the Tulsa King Season 4 premiere ends. Episode 1, titled W.W.D.D., premiered on Paramount+ on Friday, Oct. 16, 2026, and the 44-minute episode ends with Sylvester Stallone’s Dwight learning that the plane carrying both of them went down. Paramount’s official description of the season says Dwight suffers a “crushing personal loss.”
One overnight flight carried both Dwight’s love interest and the governor of Oklahoma.
Cal Thresher Began Season 4 as Oklahoma’s Governor, and Margaret Was Working for Him
Neal McDonough plays Cal Thresher, and the governorship was his own family’s idea. He told TV Insider that after Season 2 wrapped, he and his wife, Ruve, came up with the idea of Cal becoming governor. He also made fans a promise.
“We can expect that there’s a new Tulsa King in town, and his name is Cal Thresher,” he said.
Cal does open Season 4 as Oklahoma’s governor, and by the end of Episode 1 he is on the plane that went down.
Margaret’s ties to him explain why she was on that plane at all. She had been working for Cal to get her ranch back, and on that overnight flight the two of them were asleep in separate seats.
The season also brings a new face close to the governor’s office. Gretchen Mol joins Season 4 as Amanda Clark, the state’s Lieutenant Governor, in a season whose governor was on that plane in the very first episode.
Dwight Was Chasing Legitimacy, and Kevin Pollak Had Warned That Death Was Coming
In the premiere, Dwight is leading his crew toward legitimacy. He beat his nemesis Jeremiah Dunmire at the end of Season 3, and Season 4 finds him trying to legitimize his operation while battling corrupt politicians and New York mob boss Quiet Ray Renzetti, according to Forbes. In the premiere, he and Quiet Ray agree to set their differences aside for 25 percent of the distillery profits.
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Then, as the episode’s logline puts it, his world abruptly fractures.
Kevin Pollak, who plays Special Agent Musso, had offered his own preview of the season. He summed up the season in four words when he spoke to PauseRewind’s Kevin Zelman at the Los Angeles premiere of Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass.
“Violence, death, and Sly,” he said.
He added that reactions would vary. “Depends on how you feel about certain people on the show. There’ll be some outrage, I imagine, and maybe some celebration.”
The Season 4 trailer had already given fans a line from Dwight that sounds different after that 4:30 a.m. wake-up.
“If I find out whose fault this is, bad things are gonna happen to bad people,” he said.
Season 4 runs 10 episodes, released weekly on Fridays. Radio Times lists Episode 2, “Blind Rooster,” for Friday, Oct. 23, and the finale, “Exit Interview,” for Friday, Dec. 18. The show is already renewed for Season 5, with the story and production headed to New York City.
Neal McDonough promised a new Tulsa King in town named Cal Thresher, and the Tulsa King Season 4 premiere ended with Cal on a plane that went down and Dwight Manfredi’s sister, Joanne, waking him at 4:30 in the morning with the news.
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