Summary

Collider’s Steve Weintraub talks with Jeremy Renner and Edie Falco for the Mayor of Kingstown Season 4 finale.

Falco discusses the ways her character, Warden Nina Hobbs, has been changed after the events of Season 4.

Renner talks about how Season 4 pushes Mike deeper into moral gray zones, and how vulnerable he is for the first time as we head into Season 5.

In Taylor Sheridan’s Paramount+ series, Mayor of Kingstown, there’s a fine line between justice and corruption, and in Season 4, Jeremy Renner’s Mike McLusky moves even further into those morally grey areas, leaving him at his “most vulnerable,” he tells Collider’s Steve Weintraub. After a cathartic finale for Mike and his brother Kyle (Taylor Handley) in Episode 10, “Belly of the Beast,” and looking ahead to Season 5, Renner wonders, “What happens now for them both?” After an entire season of mounting tension, waiting for the final blow, Mike’s managed to protect his brother, but after everything, we find Mike at his most vulnerable he’s ever been. Meanwhile, Warden Nina Hobbs (Edie Falco) discovered she’s finally come up against a force that matches her own, and teases fans will see a new side to her in future seasons. Check out the full conversation in the video above or the transcript below, where Renner and Falco discuss where that intense Season 4 finale leaves our characters. Renner talks about the vulnerable state Mike is in at the end, and Falco discusses Nina’s continued transformation, plus what’s in store for Season 5.
The ‘Mayor of Kingstown’ Crew Will Never Be the Same After Season 4

“What now?”

Custom image of Jeremy Renner and Edie Falco for Season 4.Image by Jefferson Chacon, via Paramount+

COLLIDER: I’m going to start with the most important question about Season 4, which I’ve seen, and it’s the best one yet. How does Mike pay the bills? JEREMY RENNER: I don’t think he has got a lot of bills to look after. This season, he takes on no clients. He is all business. RENNER: Yeah, I think Rebecca is probably handling a lot of that stuff. A lot of stuff can happen over phone calls. It’s just him. He can just do quick trades. But if you’re worried about Mike keeping the lights on, you’re probably watching the wrong show. I’m totally effing with you. This season is brutal. How do you think the events of this season actually change each of your characters? EDIE FALCO: I don’t know that Nina has ever had to change her trajectory for someone else, or in the light of someone else’s forcefulness, and I think she’s realizing she didn’t know what she was going to be up against here in Kingstown, not just with Mike, but with all the aspects of her version of her job. So, she’s having to morph into a different version. She’s having to be a little more adaptable, is what I think. RENNER: There’s a lot of square peg, round hole for Mike this season, especially in a time he’s most vulnerable and desperate to protect his brother. It took the entire season to finally get him back in his arms and to protect him. It’s a little cathartic ending for them both, I think. I love the idea of what now? What happens now for them both? Especially for my brother, like what now? I’m recalling as we’re talking about it. I’m thinking about the end of the season. I’ve seen, like, the first two episodes.

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The ‘Mayor of Kingstown’ Writers Are “Rocking Right Now” for Season 5

Renner says Season 4 “opens up for a lot of storytelling that’s really exciting for the future.”

Merle was killed, the Colombian kid escapes, and you guys go from adversaries to being, not friends, but willing to put up with each other. So I’m just curious what you think the future might hold. Do you think they can be friends as long as it’s mutually beneficial?

RENNER: I think that’s always up to the writers. I mean, we can pontificate all we want. It’s like, what if Mothra and Ultraman…? Which are fun to talk about, don’t get me wrong. I personally, Jeremy, am happy that we did that super tension. We played it out pretty good. I’m glad there’s a relief in that. There’s a real honorable sort of reason for it all. Then I think the audience can be like, “Wow, it’s kind of cool that they can work together a little bit,” because those are two badass people that are pretty honorable. So, I think it opens up for a lot of storytelling that’s really exciting for the future, for Season 5 — until there’s a “green light.” But yeah, that’s always in the works. We’re making it happen. The writers’ room is rocking right now, and I’m excited to see what they really have coming together. We talk about the big broad strokes of it all, but who knows where it does land. But the narrative is very exciting for the future. And because of Edie being a part of this, it makes it even more exciting, for sure. You can stream Mayor of Kingstown Season 4 on Paramount+.

Release Date

November 14, 2021

Network

Paramount+

Showrunner

Dave Erickson

Directors

Stephen Kay, Guy Ferland, Christoph Schrewe, Clark Johnson, Paul Cameron, Tasha Smith, Taylor Sheridan

Writers

James Arcega Tinsley