‘Mayor of Kingstown’: Jeremy Renner & Kyle Chandler Take Charge in First Trailer (VIDEO)

Meredith Jacobs August 31, 2021

“We don’t break the law, we bend it” Mike McLusky (Jeremy Renner) tells his mother, Miriam (Dianne Wiest), in the first trailer for Paramount+’s Mayor of Kingstown. But she knows exactly what her son does — he’s just like his father.

Mike may not be the real mayor, but he does run the city (hence the nickname, the title of the show) — and the real mayor knows it too, as the trailer makes clear while offering a look at what’s going on in and out of the prisons in Kingstown.

Also keeping things in line is Mike’s older brother, Mitch (Kyle Chandler), a fixer in and out of the prison system. “He’s going to have to keep his mouth shut, and he’s going to have to do what he’s told,” he’s seen saying in the action-packed preview.

Taylor Sheridan’s Paramount+ drama follows the McLusky family, power brokers in Kingstown, Michigan, where the only thriving industry is the business of incarceration. While tackling themes of systemic racism, corruption, and inequality, the drama provides a stark look at their attempt to bring order and justice to a town without either.

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Mayor of Kingstown also stars co-creator Hugh Dillon, Pha’rez Lass, Tobi Bamtefa, Emma Laird, Derek Webster and Taylor Handley. Joining the cast are series regulars Aidan Gillen and Hamish Allan-Headley and 10 recurring guest stars, according to Deadline. Gillen’s Milo Sunter is the leader of the Russian mob serving a life sentence in the supermax, while Allan-Headley is playing Robert, a SWAT captain on the drug task force.

Necar Zadegan will play Assistant District Attorney Evelyn Foley, one of Kingstown’s power brokers. Michael Beach and Rob Kirkland are playing police captains Kareem Moore and Walter, respectively. James Jordan and Madela Van Peebles are playing prison guards Ed Simmons and Sam (who’s “in over his head”), respectively.

Andrew Howard’s Duke is a former inmate and a key member of the Aryans. Natasha Marc’s Cherry is an inmate at the women’s prison. Nichole Galicia is playing Mike’s “fiercely loyal assistant” Rebecca, while Jason Kelley’s Tim Weaver is Mike’s colleague from the prison. And Nishi Munshi is playing Kyle McLusky’s wife Tracy.