Robert Patrick Praises Sylvester Stallone Despite Their Tulsa King Rivalry

Robert Patrick may be battling Sylvester Stallone on screen in Tulsa King season 3, but behind the scenes, the two actors share a very different relationship.

In the Paramount+ crime drama, Patrick and Stallone find themselves on opposite sides of a growing fight over territory, family and a valuable supply of 50-year-old bourbon. But Patrick says there is no real tension between the longtime co-stars.

“[Stallone’s] so great. One of… my favorite people,” Patrick, 67, tells PEOPLE exclusively. “Just a warm, generous human being, incredibly talented. And we had a ball.”

The two actors have worked together before, most notably in the 1997 crime drama Cop Land. Stallone played Freddy Heflin, a small-town sheriff caught among a group of corrupt New York police officers, while Patrick portrayed Jack Rucker, one of the officers involved in the conflict.

Their roles in Tulsa King give them a chance to explore a very different relationship.

Stallone plays Dwight Manfredi, a New York mobster who is released from prison and sent to Tulsa. There, he begins building a new criminal empire from scratch.

Patrick joins the show in season 3 as a member of a powerful local family. His character has strong ties to both distributors and law enforcement, putting him directly at odds with Dwight as the two sides fight for control.

While Patrick credits Tulsa King creator Taylor Sheridan with bringing him into the series, the actor says he has never actually met Sheridan in person.

That has not stopped Patrick from becoming a fan of Sheridan's work.

“I haven’t yet met him… but I’m a huge fan of Taylor. I mean, he’s a fantastic writer,” Patrick says. He describes reading the Tulsa King script as feeling “like reading this romantic novel.”

Patrick's experience on the series has also made him eager to work with Sheridan again.

“I hope to work with him again,” he says. “He has so many projects that hopefully he can plug me in somewhere.”

For now, viewers can enjoy watching Patrick and Stallone go head-to-head on Tulsa King—even though their real-life friendship is far more friendly than their characters' rivalry suggests.