What happened to Tina's husband in Tulsa King? You didn't miss his exit — there wasn't one
Tulsa King has spent four seasons keeping track of nearly everyone in Dwight Manfredi's orbit, except the man his daughter was married to.
Sylvester Stallone's mob drama returned to Paramount+ for its fourth season on October 16, with Terence Winter, its first-season showrunner, back as head writer. Stallone plays Dwight "The General" Manfredi, a New York capo who comes out of 25 years in prison and gets exiled to Oklahoma. Tatiana Zappardino plays his daughter, Tina, who grew up without him.
Who he was
His name is Emory, and Loren Dunn played him. He's in the first season, and he barely gets a word in.
Tina hasn't spoken to Dwight in years when the show starts. In the second episode, "Center of the Universe," Dwight calls her, and Emory picks up. He tells Dwight that Tina doesn't want to talk to him, while their kids can be heard in the background. Tina eventually gets on the line, asks whether he's happy now that he's heard her voice, and hangs up when he asks to see her.
What happened to him
He gets dragged into a war he has nothing to do with. Later in season 1, in "Stable," Chickie, the underboss of the Invernizzi family, played by Domenick Lombardozzi, beats Emory in New York in what's made to look like a mugging. It comes right after Dwight kills Nico, one of the family's men, and plays as payback.
Zappardino has summed up Tina's side of it in one line.
"When she was in New York, her husband got mugged and beaten up," Zappardino told TV Insider.
Then he's just gone
Emory doesn't die, doesn't leave and doesn't get a divorce scene. He simply never comes back. Here's what changes around him in season 2:
- Tina is now living in Tulsa with her children, near her father.
- When a judge sets Dwight's bail at $3 million, she offers her property to cover it.
- She starts seeing Mitch Keller, the ex-rodeo rider played by Garrett Hedlund.
The show doesn't stop to explain where Emory went. Loren Dunn is credited for season 1 only.
Don't miss: Tulsa King vs Landman: critics and IMDb voters crown different winners in Sheridan's heavyweight matchup
Zappardino, talking about Tina in the first person, has filled in more than the scripts did. She describes Emory as "the exact opposite of my father," the man Tina picked to get away from that life, and talks about him strictly in the past tense.
Tina, as Zappardino sees it, "had to take care of the last husband, he was kind of a baby."
That's the closest thing to an exit he ever gets. Zappardino isn't part of the main cast in season 3.
For the record: Zappardino served four years in the U.S. Marine Corps as a public affairs officer, and her real-life partner, Alexander, is an Army Green Beret.
Previously we wrote: Is The Lowdown a true story? The real man died in 2015 — and his family says FX is 'muddying fact and fiction'