Mayor of Kingstown, premiering on November 14 on Paramount Network and then available for streaming on Paramount+, is a crime drama that takes a hard look at many contemporary issues with incarceration. Created by Taylor Sheridan and Hugh Dillon, the story centers on the McLusky family and how they control the prison business in their town.
Dillon not only helped create the show but also plays Ian, one of the detectives on the force. Along with co-star Tobi Bamtefa, the multi-hyphenate talent spoke with Screen Rant about the inspiration for the show and the twists fans can expect.
Screen Rant: What inspired Mayor of Kingstown and what can you tell me about the collaboration process and working with Taylor Sheridan to create the show?
Hugh Dillon: Taylor was my acting coach. 15 years ago, I moved to L.A. I had just finished a movie called Down to the Bone that got me to Sundance with Vera Farmiga, and Vera said, "You should go to L.A." And I had drug issues and all sorts. I was in and out of rehab 15 times. I landed in L.A., Taylor's going, "Dude, you could do this," and he started coaching me. We'd put the work aside some days because we would procrastinate, and we'd talk about dreams and perseverance. "Well, what would you do if you really could do something? What kind of show would you make?"
I'm from a town that had nine penitentiaries. My mom was a teacher. My friends, their parents were guards. I had other friends whose parents were convicts, and I'm from this town. It had Millhaven, maximum security, a prison for women. Taylor and I would just get really intense and lost in these conversations. He could literally deconstruct any world, characters. This is before he wrote anything. I was going, "This dude is a force of nature." And he helped me with my career and he coached me on shows.
Then 10 years ago, we had the script, and then I thought we were going to go and he goes, "Dude, I just sold Sicario, and then I've got Wind River. Come and be in that. Meet Jeremy Renner. Then I'm shooting Yellowstone, and then let's finish this. It's a series and I'll sell it," and then we were lucky to cast it with these killer actors, and we got Tobi to play Bunny. And Tobi's is just a force of nature. It's just exciting to watch him. I'm behind the monitor, I'm watching, and Taylor allowed Tobi to ad-lib and bring stuff to it.
That's why I can't say enough about Taylor because he creates the world on-page, but then he creates this environment that is so creative for the actors, and for me, as a co-creator and a producer, he just believes in you. That is something that isn't a corporation. It isn't a room of writers. This is one dude. Taylor Sheridan.
Tobi, I actually do want to talk about Bunny. He's one of my favorite characters on the show. He kind of sees the game within the game and I feel like Bunny relates to these guys probably more so than you would think. How does he view Mitch (Kyle Chandler) and Mike (Jeremy Renner)?
Tobi Bamtefa: I think there's a healthy level of respect that Bunny has for Mitch and Mike in the sense that, if you look at the town, if you look at the environment they're in, it's a very heartless environment. So nobody actually cares. If you have someone who is willing to cross over and come into yours without any malice, or without any ulterior motives and they're doing that just because they care because they don't have to do that.
Bunny is somebody who understands that and resonates with that. I guess, at some point in his life, Bunny must have asked himself, "I could do something else if I really wanted to. I could leave." But he's got family holding him. He's got family, and I don't want to say he's anchored, but there is a personal responsibility there. This family is who he is. He resonates with that and that's what allows him to respect and acknowledge the McLusky’s.
Hugh, you also play Ian, who is one of the detectives on the force. Can you talk to me about how both of the brothers are viewed within the town, especially something like the police force?
Hugh Dillon: It goes back, there are all three brothers, and in my real life, I grew up playing road hockey with the Mulrooney’s, or the Callahans, and their families of brothers. We brought that to the show. I understand that dynamic. I grew up with these dudes who did grow up to be cops and did grow up to be prison guards, and I grew up to be a borderline criminal until I was 30. But you still, when you see these guys, you have that rapport because you don't take each other seriously. You have familial disrespect.
With Ian, he has an old great relationship with Mitch, and Mike is the middle brother who's his own dude. And the younger brother, Kyle, played by Taylor Handley, is the newest member of the force. He becomes his partner. There's a loyalty in there. Nobody started out to be bad, but there's an ethical drift, and in that is still in cases that loyalty that you had when you were kids that is unspoken, but would be pretty hard to break.
Mayor of Kingstown premieres on Sunday, November 14 on Paramount+.