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Mayor of Kingstown might be, arguably, one of the darker shows on TV at the moment — but the cast does have some fun when the cameras start rolling.
For those who haven’t watched the Paramount+ series (first off, please do), a bulk of the show takes place in a prison. And, yes, the cast really films there. Season 4, which premieres on Sunday, October 26, is a little more prison-heavy than usual.
Jeremy Renner returns as Mike McLusky for the show’s fourth season, and things get more personal as his brother Kyle (Taylor Handley) is now an inmate in Anchor Bay Prison. McLusky has to go head-to-head with the new warden, Nina Hobbs (Edie Falco), adding an extra layer to his stresses. There’s also the addition of new female prison guard Cindy Stephens, played by Laura Benanti.
Mayor of Kingstown cocreator and star Hugh Dillon (he plays Ian Ferguson in the show) told Us Weekly exclusively on Tuesday, October 21, he was “fascinated” by the idea of a single mother who works as a prison guard after meeting someone similar to Cindy in real life.
“She nailed it to the wall. It’s so funny because she has a comic background. She makes me laugh,” Dillon said of Benanti. “She has no respect for me, and, yet, when it’s action, she is phenomenal. … Laura really came to play.”
Dillon praised Benanti taking on the role with “grace and dignity,” but there was one major “challenge” for the actress when it came to playing her character.
“I have a very big phobia of blood, even though I know it’s fake,” Benanti told Us during the Mayor of Kingstown season 4 red carpet on Tuesday. “That was also very humiliating, because everybody knew and everybody was worried. … In many ways, I got over it because I had to.”
Despite her worry — and the lack of smiles in the show — Benanti and the rest of the cast did find ways to loosen up on set. Keep scrolling to find out how the Mayor of Kingstown cast kept it light while filming:
Jeremy Renner
“I think I just wait for it to be over and shake it off when I walk back to the trailer or something,” he said.
Edie Falco
Falco told Us that she was “always” looking for “the funny guy” on set.
“You check your phone and kind of try to snap your head out of the story line,” she added.
Laura Benanti
Benanti explained to Us that “everyone” finds a way to bring some levity in between takes.
“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,” she said. “Fortunately, they were already idiots. I just joined.”
She joked, “We just linked arms and skipped down the street.”
Hugh Dillon
Dillon confirmed that the cast got along great with Benanti — after initially being on the serious side.
“At first we were like, ‘Hey, how’re you doing?’ Because we don’t know [her],” he added. “Then, she’s an idiot.”
