Taylor Sheridan’s Hit Crime Show’s Major Death Could’ve Been Even Worse, According to Star

The following post contains MAJOR spoilers for Mayor of Kingstown Season 4, Episode 8, “Belleville.”

Mayor of Kingstown has just doubled down on its violence with an unexpected death. Star Nishi Munshi opens up about how much worse her character’s brutal death in Season 4 could have been.

Speaking to TV Insider, Munshi discussed her character Tracy McLusky’s tragic demise at the hands of goons sent by Richard Brake’s Merle Callahan, the vengeful white supremacist whose latest offer to Taylor Handley’s Kyle McLusky was shot down by the detective. As awful as Tracy’s death was, audiences received a glimmer of hope upon learning that her and Kyle’s infant son, Mitch, survived the incident.

When asked about the relief her character receives in knowing that Mitch survived, Tacy responded, “Sure, because our show has had intense, I think, once or twice, baby deaths… Absolutely, absolutely, that’s that internal, protective fear, where it’s, ‘You can take me, and anything else can happen, but…”

“Yeah, absolutely, I would. [But] I would be concerned. If Tracy’s looking from the other side, I would be concerned. And I joked and like, ‘I wonder what Michael do? Strap Mitch to the back of a car?’ But yeah, yeah, I was relieved to see that. Yeah, we had these conversations where, like, ‘You got to kill the baby, too,’ and then they’re like, ‘No, that’s too cruel.”

“Yeah, we all got pretty dark,” Tracy said of the creative process behind the scenes. “I mean, it’s a really collaborative group. So I was like, ‘If we’re really gonna do it, you know what? What’s gonna happen with the baby?’ But, yeah, it was definitely a cliffhanger, for sure.”

Created by Taylor Sheridan and Hugh Dillon, Mayor of Kingstown premiered in 2021 and introduced audiences to the eponymous company town where almost everyone’s business is in the prison system. Mayor of Kingstown stars Jeremy Renner as Mike McLusky, who takes over as “Mayor,” the unofficial mediator between the gangs, prisoners, police, and other groups that comprise Kingstown, following the death of his older brother, Mitch.

Mayor of Kingstown features a star-studded ensemble cast led by Hugh Dillon as local detective and Kyle’s partner Ian Ferguson, Necar Zadegan as district attorney Evelyn Foley, and Derek Webster as fellow Kingstown detective Stevie. The series has also starred cast members including the iconic Dianne Wiest, Emma Laird, and Kyle Chandler across its first three seasons.

How Season 4 of Mayor of Kingstown Has Shaken Up the Hit Taylor Sheridan Crime Series

Stills from Mayor of Kingstown Season 4Image via Paramount

Season 4 of Mayor of Kingstown premiered on Oct. 26, and quickly set about shaking up the series’ already tense status quo. One of the season’s biggest changes was the introduction of Emmy Award-winner Edie Falco as new Kingstown prison warden Nina Hobbs. Over the course of Season 4, Hobbs and Mike have largely been at odds with one another, with Hobbs making a pointed note of Mike’s criminal past.

Falco herself previously spoke to CBR about stepping into the series, stating, “I kind of love it. This was interesting because Mayor of Kingstown was created without me, and I’m new on the scene and so is my character. So, all of that sort of worked to my advantage, and yeah, I kind of loved it.”

Mayor of Kingstown is currently available for streaming on Paramount+.

Release Date

November 14, 2021

Network

Paramount+

Directors

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

Writers

James Arcega Tinsley

• Jeremy Renner

  Mike McLusky