Mike McLusky (Jeremy Renner) shares a poignant moment with Iris (Emma Laird) in an exclusive clip provided to Forbes from this Sunday’s upcoming episode of Mayor of Kingstown.
Mayor of Kingstown returned in June for Season 3 on Paramount+, following Renner’s miraculous recovery from a near-fatal snowplow accident on New Year’s Day of 2023.
In Season 3 of Mayor of Kingstown, Iris—who survived her harrowing run as a sex worker for cruel Russian mobster Milo Sumpter (Aiden Gillen) in seasons 1 and 2 of the series—is still struggling to find a way of dealing with her trauma.
Iris finds comfort in Season 3, though, when Konstantin Noskov (Yorick van Wageningen) arrives in Kingstown after Milo’s apparent death at the end of Season 2. A physically imposing figure, Konstantin has provided Iris protection in the past.
Konstantin, however, is no match for Mike, who has tried his best throughout Mayor of Kingstown to give Iris a new lease on life.
As such, Iris risks her life to provide intel to Mike and his Kingstown Police detective ally Ian Ferguson (Hugh Dillon) on Konstantin. The mobster has started a deadly street war with gang leader Bunny Washington (Toby Bamtefa) that is raging inside and outside of Kingstown’s prison walls, and Mike and Ian are desperately trying to find a way to stop the bloodshed.
While Mike and Iris have mostly kept in contact through a burner phone while she deals with Konstantin, Mike finds a way to safely bring Iris to his office for a couple of hours rest in Episode 9. In the exclusive clip, titled Stay with Me, Iris—clearly troubled by the danger she is in—is assured by Mike that everything will be okay.
‘Mayor Of Kingstown’ Stars Laud Renner’s Tenacity In His Return To The Series
During a series of Zoom conversations with select cast members of Mayor of Kingstown in the past few weeks, Emma Laird, Tobi Bamtefa, Necar Zadegan and Taylor Handley have all marveled at Jeremy Renner’s drive to make Season 3 a reality.
“Leading up to January [of this year] I was like, how the f—k is he going to shoot this show? Even in just that time from January until last month or whenever it was that we wrapped, his recovery speed is f—king crazy,” Laird exclaimed. “I don’t understand how he did it but it was magic.”
Handley plays Mike McLusky’s brother and S.W.A.T. team member Kyle McLusky. Even though Renner suffered 30 broken bones after he was crushed in a freak accident involving his 14,000-pound PistenBully snowplow, Handley said he wasn’t surprised by the speed in which his co-star recovered from his devastating injuries.
“I’ve gotten to know Jeremy very well throughout the seasons and honestly it doesn’t surprise me how he’s come back,” Handley said. “Just in the way that he carries himself and the people that he has around him, the mindset he has and his work ethic—he’s a trooper and a machine. It didn’t surprise me when he came back even stronger than before.”
As such, Zadegan—who plays Kingstown District Attorney Evelyn Foley—calls Season 3 of Mayor of Kingstown “a celebration,” while Bamtefa remains awestruck by Renner’s drive.
“It’s tantamount to his fortitude and his strength as an individual and as an actor and as a professional,” Bamtefa said. “It’s inspirational coming to work with someone who’s been through [the accident] and still able to walk like nothing happened.”
Episode 9 of Mayor of Kingstown Season 3 begins streaming Sunday on Paramount+, while Episode 10—the season finale—will premiere on Sunday, August 4.