Over the course of 4 seasons, Martin Starr’s Lawrence “Bodhi” Geigerman has served as a nice counterbalance to Dwight Manfredi (Sylvester Stallone) on Tulsa King. As a co-owner of Even Higher Plane with Manfredi, Bodhi has maintained their budding weed empire as Manfredi has diversified his interests with a stake in the Bred-2-Buck Cabaret & Casino and ownership of Montague Distillers and its coveted 50-year bourbon. Even after the murder of his friend, Jimmy the Creek (Glen Gould), Bodhi has stayed by Manfredi’s side and remained part of the family.
In the Season 4 premiere, the Manfredi family is rocked to learn that the plane carrying their leader’s girlfriend, Margaret Devereaux (Dana Delaney), and the Governor of Oklahoma, Cal Thresher (Neal McDonough), had crashed. Manfredi refuses to show emotion to his crew as he grapples with the news that Margaret is gone. It turns out the only person who truly understands the pain he is going through is Bodhi, as it’s revealed that Bodhi had a wife and daughter who were killed in a car crash long before Manfredi came to Tulsa.
“It was something that we toyed with revealing earlier in the show,” said Starr when asked about his character’s backstory. Starr also revealed that he initially discussed the “mentor/mentee dynamic between Dwight and Bodhi” with showrunner Terence Winter, who returned to helm the series for Season 4. Starr explained: “It’s really interesting to see their roles shift briefly after the plane crash. Bodhi wants to be a guide for Dwight when he’s struggling.”
Starr hopped on a Zoom to discuss the season so far, share what it was like to film that emotional scene with Sylvester Stallone, and more.
DECIDER: Tulsa King is back for Season 4! How did it feel to welcome back Terence Winter as the showrunner?
MARTIN STARR: I love getting to explore new stuff with Terry. As much as we’re breaking new ground with Tulsa King, there are obvious parallels between our show and his first show, The Sopranos. It’s interesting going back and rewatching The Sopranos because you can see Terry’s influence. He even likes to reuse characters’ names, like “Bevilaqua.”
How has Bodhi evolved this season?
It’s always fun every season to see whether Bodhi teeters into more villainous behavior. He started the series as a timid, introverted Buddhist running a weed shop. Bodhi’s always been the brains behind the operation, and every season I get to see how far they’ll push Bodhi out front.
Bodhi is a smart guy who could extract himself from Dwight’s crew if he really wanted to. What keeps Bodhi tied to Dwight, other than their partnership in Even Higher Plane?
Dwight has his thumb on everybody in certain ways. He also provides safety. If you leave him, you’re now in harm’s way a bit. Staying safe and, of course, the financial benefits are both big factors in Bodhi staying put.
Obviously, the big shock at the end of the first episode is that Margaret’s and Cal’s plane goes down. How will this impact Dwight and the crew going forward?
It puts Dwight in a bit of a tailspin. The emotions of losing someone so close to you are tough.
In Episode 2, Bodhi reveals to Dwight that he’s very familiar with grief because of his late wife and daughter. How did you learn of Bodhi’s backstory?
It was something that we toyed with revealing earlier in the show. When I first met with Terry about this role five or six years ago, one of the things we discussed was the mentor/mentee dynamic between Dwight and Bodhi as time went on. So, it’s really interesting to see their roles shift briefly after the plane crash. Bodhi wants to be a guide for Dwight when he’s struggling. It’s always fun to flip a relationship on its head and find deeper complexities in how those two characters connect.
The scene where Bodhi encourages Dwight to embrace his grief is one of the most emotional scenes in the series. Can you talk about filming that scene with Sylvester Stallone?
He is generous. He tends to play with the words on the day. As much as he is helping to create the show from the ground up, he’s also been very involved in the writing since the beginning of the series. Because I’m someone who has an improv background, I appreciate Sly’s willingness to find those beats on the day of filming because it’s sometimes easier then to understand what works and what doesn’t. I want to say the initial scene was half a page or a page longer, and he slimmed it down after we did some rehearsal. It all just felt right after those edits.
What’s been really nice this season is that his wife, Jennifer [Flavin], has been more involved. Obviously, his daughter, Scarlet, plays Spencer on the show. Having his family around is stabilizing for Sly. It’s a comfort to him. When you’re filming emotional scenes like that one, the more comfortable you are, the easier it is to find those beats. It’s fun to get to play a scene with a guy who doesn’t normally push those boundaries, even though he’s obviously very capable.
I didn’t take Bodhi for a wine guy, but he is able to suss out Lenny’s counterfeit wine business pretty quickly. Where do you think this love of wine comes from?
I’m not sure. I do think Bodhi is a little on the spectrum. The way that his brain works gives him the acute ability to focus. So, when he felt something was off with Lenny’s bottle of wine, he was able to figure out what it was. He has a very capable palate.
I’m a fan of Rhys Coiro, so it’s really fun to see him as Lenny this season. What was it like working with him? What can you tease about their dynamic going forward?
We actually got to do more scenes together because we had such good chemistry. That’s not surprising because we worked together previously in a movie [A Good Old Fashioned Orgy] about 15 years ago. He’s just a sweetheart. Like Sly, he also likes to find things on the day of filming and play a bit. His style of acting works really well with mine. It’s just fun getting to hang out with and play with such a talented cast.
Tulsa King features an unconventional family full of wonderful characters. Do you have a particular favorite actor/character to work opposite?
Every time I get to work with people I don’t usually work with, it’s exciting. However, I really enjoy the Bodhi and Tyson scenes. Jay Will is a great guy. He got this role on Tulsa King very early in his career. It’s been nice to watch him evolve. Same with McKenna Harrington, who plays Grace. I’ve loved watching them get more comfortable on set and gain a better understanding of how this process works because it can be a bit scary.
My first big job was Freaks and Geeks, and I was fortunate to be so young because I didn’t think about it. I was surrounded by other kids. On Tulsa King, Jay and McKenna were thrown immediately into the deep end. Sly is an immensely talented man who already has an incredible resume. Walking onto set with him can be is intimidating if you have no experience and don’t quite know where you fit in this process.
However, everybody’s so capable and talented that it’s been fun to watch them grow and settle into their own abilities. Their confidence has grown as we’ve carried on through seasons. Tulsa King is the first drama I’ve been on for multiple years, which is a rare experience. So, it’s been really fun.