Mayor of Kingstown director, Hugh Dillon, praises Jeremy Renner's season 2 performance and teases a significant transformation for his character. Mayor of Kingstown premiered in November 2021 and is a crime drama that follows the influential McLusky family in Kingstown, Michigan. In a town dominated by multiple prisons, the McLusky family tries to use their influence to advocate for inmates and create some form of justice within the small town. Mike McLusky (Renner) ultimately becomes the "Mayor" of the town as he desperately tries to maintain a shaky peace between prisoners and law enforcement. The series received mixed-to-negative reviews but high viewership and was renewed for a second season set to premiere on January 15.
In an interview with Screen Rant, Dillon had high praise for Renner's Mayor of Kingstown season 2 performance. Renner is still currently recovering in the hospital after suffering a severe accident involving a snow plow. Despite being in the hospital, he still managed to share promotions for season 2 on social media ahead of its release. According to Dillon, he has a reason to be excited for season 2, as the director teased a very powerful and transformative performance from Renner. Check out Dillon's comments on Renner below:
"Jeremy intuitively knows what he wants to do. He's loved by that crew and the cast, and because he has such integrity, his decisions are not knee-jerk. They are all thought out, very much like Taylor's. He's so beautifully honest that he thinks of everything as a way to serve a character. For me as a creator, it's gratifying seeing his commitment and what he brings to it. I'm so intimately close to him as an actor as well, and I see how he cares about the team and the crew.
"He's an exceptional performer, and his performance this year is like watching [Robert] De Niro in Raging Bull. You're watching that transformation by the end of the season. And [in terms of] what he does as a producer? He's just an exceptional human being, and he's unstoppable in every regard."
How Jeremy Renner's Mayor of Kingstown Character Has Evolved
Renner's McLusky experiencing a profound transformation in Mayor of Kingstown season 2 wouldn't be too surprising. After all, his character has already started to evolve significantly just since the premiere of season 1. Season 2 seems to be gearing up to simply see his transformation come first circle. As a kid, McLusky dreamed about escaping Kingstown forever. However, as an adult and an ex-convict, he struggles to leave Kingstown behind. In the pilot episode, he is further tied down to Kingstown after the unexpected murder of his brother, Mitch (Kyle Chandler).
Mitch had previously been the Mayor of Kingstown, but his death resulted in McLusky reluctantly taking over as mayor and struggling to fulfill his brother's role. His decision to continue his brother's business sparks conflict, with his mother being vehemently against it and his younger brother raising a young family and needing protection. While he's reluctant, McLusky has a tendency of digging himself deeper and deeper into the business. He has a strict moral code and sense of duty and justifies his sometimes illegal means in hopes of doing good. However, by the end of the series, McLusky is rethinking everything after he fails to prevent a massive, gruesome prison riot.
Given the trauma, McLusky is finally, for once, thinking about denying his impulse to follow in the family business. At the end of Mayor of Kingstown season 1, he is thinking of potentially exploring a new life with Iris (Emma Laird) and reveals he dreams of leaving Kingstown to attend culinary school. While the ending seems to tease him leaving the town, he will most likely still return to it in season 2. However, throughout season 1, he transforms into being able to see that there could be a life for him outside of Kingstown. In season 2, he may continue along this transformation, further coming to terms with his past as an ex-convict, what he wants for his and Iris' future, and re-examining the methods he uses as Mayor. Ultimately, throughout Mayor of Kingstown, McLusky is shaken by traumatic events and willing to question his convictions, and season 2 may further explore these changes in his perspective.