Mayor of Kingstown Season 4: How Jeremy Renner and the cast kept spirits high while filming in prison 

Season 4 of Mayor of Kingstown is on its way, promising a return to Taylor Sheridan’s world of systemic corruption, power dynamics, and survival in the U.S.

Set in the dystopian town of Kingstown, Michigan, the show follows Jeremy Renner’s Mike McLusky, a power broker at the intersection of law enforcers, criminals, and prisoners. But what’s great about this season is that it is almost entirely focused on life inside, where the boundaries of the prison itself serve as a metaphor for so much of the series’ drama.

Since its premiere, Mayor of Kingstown has carved out a space for itself as the grittiest, most compelling entry in Sheridan’s expanding TV universe, which also includes Yellowstone and Landman. Season 4, with the stakes higher than ever, will premiere on Paramount+ from Sunday, 26 October.

As Mike confronts new dangers and old wounds, the story turns inward, pushing all the characters to their extremes in a world where survival itself increasingly requires a moral drag.

How did the Mayor of Kingstown Season 4 cast keep their spirits high?

Despite its themes and violent setting, the Mayor of Kingstown Season 4 cast managed to find humour and lightness amid the darkness of filming inside a real prison. Filming in such a high-tension location might have been oppressive for the actors, but they each managed to break the mood. In a conversation with US Weekly, the stars of Mayor of Kingstown discussed how they handled it. Renner admitted:

“I think I just wait for it to be over and shake it off when I walk back to the trailer or something.”

Falco added:

“You check your phone and kind of try to snap your head out of the story line."

Benanti, who joins the cast this season as a new female prison guard, Cindy Stephens, credited the ensemble for helping her stay upbeat during the intense shoot:

“It really, fortunately, was a group of people that already sort of moved in that way. That was the ecosystem of the space. I just fit right in in that way. Fortunately, they were already idiots. I just joined. We just linked arms and skipped down the street.”

Series co-creator and actor, Hugh Dillon, told Us Weekly that Benanti blended seamlessly into the cast after an initially serious introduction:

“At first we were like, ‘Hey, how’re you doing?’ Because we don’t know [her]. Then, she’s an idiot.”

Even when faced with her own on-set challenges, including her fear of blood, Benanti found ways to adapt:

“I have a very big phobia of blood, even though I know it’s fake. In many ways, I got over it because I had to.”

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Mayor of Kingstown season 4 will descend even further into prison-life madness, and Mike McLusky is tested more than ever on a personal level. Now with his brother Kyle behind bars at Anchor Bay Prison, the series shifts its attention to the increasingly murky lines that separate family from justice and morality. McLusky’s battle with the new warden, Nina Hobbs, brings new complications.

With the inclusion of actors like Lennie James from The Walking Dead, this season of Mayor of Kingstown continues to expand the show’s emotional and moral landscape. Following the explosive end of Season 3, where Mike finally dealt with the threat of Milo Sunter and the Russian mafia, the Mayor of Kingstown season 4 thrusts him into new conflicts that test both his resolve and humanity.

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