Mayor of Kingstown is returning for season two, and by the looks of things, Jeremy Renner‘s peacekeeper Mike McLusky is back trying to keep things from blowing up. He’s got many challenges ahead and maintaining the balance is going to be an even harder feat than it was before.
The series comes from Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan and it’s a hard-hitting look at the prison system. The story takes place in the fictional Kingstown, Michigan, but it comes off as more real than your standard, case-of-the-week network procedural. McLusky is the unofficial mayor and acts as an intermediary between the police, the prisons, and the streets. He fosters relationships with all sides, not letting his emotions get the better of him so he can do what’s best for everyone, but with so many conflicting motivations, things explode in a major way.
The story so far
Mike McLusky comes from a family of power brokers; his brother Kyle (Taylor Handley) is a police officer, and his mother Miriam McLusky (Dianne Wiest) is a no-nonsense college professor who volunteers to teach at the Kingstown Women’s Prison. Kingstown is a prison town with seven prisons in total that hold 20,000 people, all within a 10-mile radius. The eldest McLusky brother, Mitch (Kyle Chandler) was the original unofficial mayor, and Mike helps him. After Mitch McLusky is gunned down by someone looking for the money in the McLusky brothers’ offices, Mike has to take on his brother’s role and find out who killed Mitch.
Mike McLusky had his hands full in season one. He saves a young woman named Iris (Emma Laird) from a gang, looks out for gang leader Deverin “Bunny” Washington’s (Tobi Bamtefa) people in and out of prison, and tries to clean up the mess that Sam (Mandela Van Peebles), a novice prison guard left. After a prisoner gets shot and killed by a trigger-happy Sam, the prisoners take matters into their own hands and riot. The prison has been seized and they’re holding the guards hostage, one of which is Kyle. Mike has to find Kyle and negotiate with the leader to calm things down. A SWAT team uses the sewers to breach the prison and take back control. Mike isn’t able to convince them and when the SWAT team enters the sewer, it’s a bloodbath.
Mayor of Kingstown season two plot
Mayor of Kingstown season two will deal with the consequences of the riot and all the remaining chaos. Mike will have to cope with the fallout of the riot from season one, and we can only assume that faith in him will need to be restored. The riot broke out while Mike was at his cabin in the woods and he didn’t know about the riot until things had already exacerbated to an extreme point. Despite this fact, he’ll have to earn back the trust of all sides because so many people died in the riot. This job has always seemed like a mandate rather than a passion, but he’ll need to work overtime if he wants to set things right.
Season two cast
Renner will of course be back to star in this crime drama, and so will Wiest as his concerned mother Miriam, and Tyler Handey as Kyle, his career-focused brother. In an interview with FilmSpeak, Wiest expressed her joy at playing a character who’s unbothered by others’ opinions. “It is freeing, in many ways, to [play] such an angry woman. That you don’t care what people think of you. It’s also it’s a lot of work because that’s a cover for her. It’s her way of mourning the [death] of her husband.” Expect Miriam to continue to speak her mind in season two.
Laird is back as Iris and Yellowstone alum Hugh Dillon returns as senior narcotic, robbery, and homicide detective for the Kingstown Police Department, Ian Fergus.
Crime boss Milo Sunter — played by Aidan Gillen from Game of Thrones — will be stirring up more trouble for Mike and the city in season two. Mike arrested him for an armored car heist, but even though he’s been imprisoned, he’s still been able to control events outside of his four walls. Mike’s associate and friend Bunny, and police officer Stevie — played by Derek Webster — both return.
Release date and where to stream
The first episode of Mayor of Kingstown season two will stream on Jan. 15, 2023, in the U.S. and Canada on Paramount Plus. The UK and Australia will be able to watch it a day later on Jan. 16. It’s possible that it will have 10 episodes as season one did. All season one episodes are available to stream on Paramount Plus.