The Big Picture

The Paramount+ series ‘Mayor of Kingstown’ depicts the McLusky family as power brokers navigating corruption and criminal factions in Michigan.
Jeremy Renner discusses his return to the series post-accident and the comfort of playing a familiar character.
Renner enjoys exploring the complex dynamic between his character, Mike McLusky, and Crips’ leader Bunny.

From co-creators Taylor Sheridan and Hugh Dillon, the Paramount+ series Mayor of Kingstown follows the McLusky family, who are power brokers in the thriving business of incarceration in Kingstown, Michigan. In order to hold the city together in Season 3, unofficial mayor Mike McLusky (Jeremy Renner) must get a handle on the drug war occurring inside and outside the prison walls and figure out how to deal with Konstantin, the latest face of the Russian mob. Relying on shaky alliances and your own instincts can only get you so far in a world of heightened danger and violence with its ever-changing criminal element.

During this one-on-one interview with Collider, Renner, who’s also an executive producer on the series, talked about returning to Mayor of Kingstown before his body was fully ready, following a serious snowplow accident in 2023 that required a lengthy recovery, why he almost didn’t go back to the show, the blessing of playing a character he was already familiar with, rewatching episodes to find Mike McLusky’s physicality again, what he likes most about the worlds Sheridan creates, the fun he has exploring the Mike and Bunny (Tobi Bamtefa) dynamic, the diminishing numbers of the McLusky family, and feeling like there’s still more to explore in a possible Season 4. He also shared why he hasn’t yet returned to the Mission: Impossible franchise and whether he’d still be game to do so.

Mayor of Kingstown In Kingstown, a city plagued by corruption and crime, the McLusky family serves as crucial mediators between law enforcement, criminal factions, and the prison system. Mike McLusky, taking over after his brother’s untimely death, tries to maintain a precarious peace amidst widespread corruption and violence. As he juggles the demands of the various power players and seeks justice for the community, Mike encounters relentless challenges that push him to his limits and question his own moral boundaries.Release Date November 14, 2021 Main Genre Drama Seasons 3 Network Paramount Expand

Knowing His ‘Mayor of Kingstown’ Character So Well Helped Jeremy Renner Get Back to Work After His Accident
Image via Paramount+

Collider: You went through a life-altering experience, and I’m sure returning to work and thinking about acting was probably pretty low on the list of things to do after that. Once you did feel like you could get back on set and you started Season 3, do you feel like it helped that you were returning to a character that you already knew?

JEREMY RENNER: Yeah, there’s no way I could have done it and dig into a new character and a new script, or if it was a movie. I require too much brain power to operate this body and recover. So, there was a comfortability in that. By the way, I still wasn’t ready. Even though my brain said, “You’re ready,” my body was like, “No, you’re not ready.” So, yeah, that helped. At some point, you have to pull the band-aid off and go fail, and then maybe you have to go back home and the whole thing falls apart, but you’ve gotta do it. The idea of doing fiction was so far [from my mind]. I almost didn’t go back because of that. I was like, “I can’t imagine learning these fake words and fake stories. For what? I’ve gotta worry about real life and my next step. I’m not gonna go do this. For what?” I had a come to Jesus with my career. I was like, “Maybe I just have to retire or quit. How absurd is it to go do fake stuff, just to entertain people? What a dummy! What have I been doing with my career?” But I found a way to overcome that, obviously, because we finished our season and I’m super excited about it.

Did you feel like you still knew this character and world very well, or did you have to go back and watch any of the previous seasons at all?

RENNER: Funny you say that. I did rewatch a few episodes, just to make sure I got the walk right again. I didn’t trust my memory. I didn’t trust my body. I didn’t have my body anymore. I was not in ownership of my body. Gravity owned it way more than I owned it and controlled it. I needed to learn this walk again. I was like, “How do I hold myself?” So, I really wanted to go back and use some episodes as examples, just to remind myself of the emotional side of it. I was like, “Okay, yeah, he is very aggro.” I wasn’t feeling that. I was feeling very delicate. I was feeling very broken. I was feeling fragile. These are not adjectives to describe Mike McLusky. I wasn’t even at 40% of where I needed to be to start this show, but we did it anyway, and I did all right.

Related When To Watch ‘Mayor of Kingstown’ Season 3: Premiere Date, Episode Schedule, and More Jeremy Renner and Taylor Sheridan are finally returning to Kingstown very soon.

You’ve worked with Taylor Sheridan more than once. Why do you think these worlds and characters that he creates work so well? What is it about them that you most connect with and that really speaks to you?

RENNER: He writes really well to the emotionality of character and he puts these everyman characters in extraordinary circumstances, in violent, harsh environments with an explosion or a death or some high extreme. He finds delicacy and intimacy in these moments and in that narrative of storytelling. There’s something really poetic about when you mourn the loss of somebody and you share it. There’s something very polarizing in the storytelling, but that makes it really interesting. A truth doesn’t exist without a lie. There’s conflict, and then there’s resolution. That’s Drama 101. I just think he does it really well, and he does it with extreme violence and also the poetry and the delicacy of it.

Jeremy Renner Sees the Mike and Bunny Dynamic as Similar to Baloo and Mowgli in ‘The Jungle Book’
Image via Paramount+

I actually really find the relationship between Mike and Bunny quite interesting to watch. They get each other and they have these conversations, but it also feels like a dynamic that we haven’t really seen. What have you found most interesting about exploring that and to have those scenes with Tobi Bamtefa? I could watch a show just of them talking to each other.

RENNER: Yeah, I could too. We have a lot of fun. Sometimes we get a little too crazy off script and it goes a little too sideways, but we have such a good relationship, as actors. Those characters coming together, you never know what’s gonna happen. When it’s based in such love and respect and brotherhood, if you will, they can come at each other with violence and threaten each other, but you know it’s just two brothers arguing. You see that they’re more allies than they are adversaries, but at any given moment, that could change. This season, you’ve got the good, the bad, and the ugly with both of them, but underneath it all, there’s a respect and an admiration with them. And then, there’s the David and Goliath of it, with this giant guy posturing with all his words and the little bulldog of McLusky, the Irish aggro. It’s a weird blend of energy. It’s like Baloo and Mowgli in The Jungle Book. It’s this beautiful dynamic. You want a movie of those two because that dynamic is really great.

This is a story that’s largely about family, what family means, and the dynamics within that, but the shape and the members of that family have changed since this all started. What does family mean to him this season?

RENNER: It’s all he’s ever had, and the numbers are just diminishing. It’s the only shred of hope, or ounce of hope. It’s the allies. It’s the commonality. It’s the common ground. It’s the safe zone. It’s the family stone, but it’s a tombstone. It’s foreshadowing for a lot of things. Family is everything to him. I do like that about McLusky and that family. It’s pretty powerful.

Related Jeremy Renner Is Joined by Several New Faces in ‘Mayor of Kingstown’ Season 3 Jeremy Renner is back in Kingstown.

Would you ever want to return to the Mission: Impossible franchise, if that came back your way?

RENNER: Yeah. I had to leave that. I was supposed to do more with them. I love those guys. I love Tom [Cruise] so much. We had so much fun, and I love that character a lot. I love that sense of humor. I love the physicality in the humor, in his prowess and with the stunts. Come on, Mission: Impossible is just fun. But my life didn’t ultimately agree with how those things are filmed. It requires a lot of time away. It’s all in London. I had to go be a dad. It just wasn’t gonna work out then. Maybe now that my daughter is older that could happen. I’d always jump into a Mission: Impossible anytime and back into Brandt. It’s great. William Brandt is a great character.

Jeremy Renner Believes There’s More to Explore if They Get a Season 4 of ‘Mayor of Kingstown’

After returning and doing this season, and now having Season 3 to show for it, do you feel like you still have more to learn with this guy or more things you’d like to explore? Would you like to do Season 4?

RENNER: I have to make it through Season 3 first. We’ll see if I do. I’ve enjoyed being with this character and exploring, and I always think there’s more to explore. When the world is set up so beautifully, like it is in Mayor of Kingstown, and all the chess pieces are there, every time you play chess, it’s a new game. It’s like that with this [show]. For the audience, they just get more involved and invested in the characters, just as I do. I’ve only seen the first episode, so I’m excited to see the rest of the season. I don’t know half the things. I only focused on my part.

Related Here’s How Many Seasons of ‘Mayor of Kingstown’ Are Already Planned “He has an ending and everyone knows about it.”

Mayor of Kingstown is available to stream on Paramount+. Check out the trailer:

Watch on Paramount+