Spoiler alert: The following interview contains spoilers for “Comeuppance,” the final episode of Season 3 of “Mayor of Kingstown,” now streaming on Paramount+.
It’s not the way “The Mayor of Kingston” ends a season quietly and neatly, as it proved once again on Sunday with its dramatic third season finale. As is typical in the dark fictional Michigan city, there was plenty of bloodshed and death, as well as characters wondering about their futures. Not bad for a show that found itself in a very real and vulnerable position last year when star Jeremy Renner, who plays the beleaguered Mike McCluskey, was injured in a snowplow accident that left him with severe chest trauma and 38 broken bones.
But, like the heroes he's been known for playing for much of his career, Renner was determined to recover and return to the role of the “Sheriff of Kingstown,” the center of the corrupt and dangerous world in the Paramount+ series created by Taylor Sheridan (“Yellowstone”) and Hugh Dillon, who also plays the morally challenged detective Ian Ferguson on the show.
After the final episode (with no word yet on season 4), Dillon spoke to us about what he did to motivate a recovering Renner to return to work, as well as Dillon’s connection to the world depicted in the series. Also, since the episode saw the death of villain Milo Sunter (Aiden Gillen), as well as more tragic endings for longtime characters Iris (Emma Laird) and Captain Karim Moore (Michael Beach), the question is: Are these characters gone forever? Dillon filled us in on that, and a potential season 4.
You've put in a lot of work in the finale, with so many big moments and threads hanging over the potential next season. What was it like, especially after the past year or so of Jeremy Renner?
You know, it’s not just a show, and Taylor gave us all this opportunity to tell these stories. This season was really about empowering Jeremy with what he was coming back from. I talked to his mom, and that really pushed us to say, “Okay, you’re going to go from a wheelchair to a walker, and hopefully we can get there.” Then we realized that we’re shooting in the winter in Pittsburgh, and he has two tons of titanium in his body, so that’s a little bit of a problem. It was just dodging all these bullets. I wanted Jeremy and his mom to read these scripts so they wouldn’t think about their problems, but they would think, “I want to get started!” We all had a common calling, which was to support Jeremy.
And with these actors, you want them to bring something real and not just something that's just plain old. So they give it their all and leave it all on the pitch. There's something beautiful about the human experience, and watching Jeremy — at first, he was worried. His mom was worried. You know, if you want to do this, commit. We're going to work hard. [Jeremy] He was like, 'I think I'll get there.' He had mobility issues, but he worked out every day after filming. We had a gym set up for him. He worked really hard.
Jeremy Renner as Mike McCluskey
Courtesy of Dennis B. Monge Jr./Paramount+
Let's talk about some of the big moments in the final episode, starting with your character Ian. After killing Charlie (Kenny Johnson) in last week's episode, there are questions now being asked about what happened. Will this continue to haunt him in the future?
It's true! There's no doubt about it. I have a friend who's a prison guard, and sometimes you take him with you to prison. [a prisoner] I've been out looking for things and sometimes I've developed a friendship with them. And I would say that having Kenny Johnson on this show is one of those things that I'm so grateful to be a part of – and then to get that surprise.
It wasn't, “Okay, we're going to do this” – it was going to take two years to prepare, and that's what Taylor taught me. These are movies, they're films. Let them breathe, let them evolve. They shouldn't be tied down to one episode. Christoph Schroeder, our director, is very capable, and he really helped shape this scene cinematically.
Then there are a number of big deaths in the episode. Karim walks into the prison yard knowing he's going to be killed, and then Iris takes her own life by taking those pills on the bus. Are we saying goodbye to these characters forever? It's the end of the season, so no one knows what's going to happen.
You have to say goodbye. Taylor taught me that, and that’s how we work. This is about life. The opioid epidemic. I grew up in a prison town, and nobody is safe, nothing is sacred. And if you recognize that, it can be a grief-driven experience, but you have to put the labels on real life, otherwise it’s just a show. These are real things that people deal with. I come from a prison town, so I’ve been dealing with these things for years. And I had a very close relationship with suicide — like friends who committed suicide and opioids. And you have to mine those experiences. You can’t gloss over it, and that’s what I offer. I understand this world and these people, and it’s our job to dig deep and hit hard and not gloss over it.
So, just to confirm, are we saying goodbye to those characters?
Yes. If we did anything else, it would be corruption. Creative corruption. Because that's the end. So, to go back and say, “Oh, she was just sleeping…” They're dead. That's what happens. It's a tragedy. We know these people, we understand them. To pretend that this didn't happen would be a disservice to all of us.
Let me ask you about filming the big shootout on the bridge at night. How long did it take to film?
Well, we've been preparing and getting ready for it. We've thought about it. [scene] Long time ago. Taylor Sheridan mentioned it early on. Taylor knows about it. Last year, he called me up and said, “You know, what happened with Kenny Johnson? Yeah, I love that. I have some great ideas. Here's what I'm thinking, and then if you can get us there, we'll fix the bridge.” And then we came up with Kyle and Robert's idea. [where Kyle shoots Robert on the bridge].
Courtesy of Dennis B. Monge Jr./Paramount+
Taylor also knew Christoph Schroy, the German director he shot and killed. [the scenes] Like “Apocalypse Now.” He can embody the emotions and the events, and he's a great human being. And then we got this great team in Pittsburgh, and people said, “That's too ambitious” or “You can't do that.” Ambition is code for, “We don't think we can do that.”
But this is Jeremy Renner and Taylor Sheridan. You want them to look at their work and what their names stand for, and how they've enabled us to succeed.
Not everything was wrapped up well at the end of the season. Will we get answers to all the stories that are still pending? A fourth season has not been officially announced, but I can't imagine it not happening, right?
This may sound a bit cliché, but from your mouth to God's ears.
Assuming the story continues, what does the future hold for Mike? He talks a lot at the end about evil, forgiveness, and coming back to himself. Is that even possible in this world?
I think that's something we all cling to, so we don't just give up. A lot of us and the characters have a predisposition to their darker impulses, and they're completely indifferent. But you have to have hope. That's the thing. It's about getting back to the hope that Iris can survive. The hope that Kyle can survive. [Taylor Handley] He could have a better life than [his brother] Mike has family issues, and how do you handle loss, defeat, and compromise? That's the crux of the matter.
It makes good TV, doesn't it?
Leads to a great life!
This interview has been edited and condensed.
